X recently launched its ‘Under the Hood transparency tool’ in order to give users information about government-mandated limitations on their posts and accounts. The update will help users verify whether their content visibility was interrupted because the platform is complying with local law or a legal request from authorities in a particular country.
The feature was announced by X's Open Source account on September 19 and adds another layer of information to the transparency reports available through the platform. Users can now see instances where an account or individual post had its visibility limited because of legal requirements. In cases involving country-specific restrictions, the report can also identify the jurisdiction where the content was withheld.
The update can help users understand sudden changes in the visibility of their content. Up to now, a decrease in reach may be based on recommendation systems, moderation actions or other platform-level decisions. The more extensive report provides additional information when local legal requirements are responsible for a restriction.
X Under the Hood Tool Explained
X introduced the Under the Hood tool in August 2026 as part of its transparency strategy. The feature was intended to provide eligible users with information about labels and other actions associated with their accounts and posts.
The information is available through the downloadable JSON report, which contains structured data related to the user's account. With the latest expansion, the report can also be filled with information about visibility restrictions related to local laws.
According to X, users can check whether a post or account was subject to government-mandated content filtering. And that information can also indicate when a particular post was withheld from users in a specific country following a legal demand.
The addition is particularly relevant because content restrictions imposed for legal reasons can operate differently from global content removal. A post may still be available to users in several countries while being inaccessible to users in another jurisdiction where local law requires X to restrict it.
How Can Users Check If Their Posts Were Restricted?
The Under the Hood section can be accessed through X's website or mobile application for all users. On the web, users can read the dedicated Under the Hood section. On mobile, the feature can be accessed via the profile menu and Settings and privacy, followed by Your account and Under the Hood.
For those who qualify, they can request their report and download the data in JSON format. The data is meant to be viewed with structured information rather than for reading, and the file is not for reading out-of-the-box, but users can open it if they wish to read it using compatible software or even an AI-powered tool for interpretation.
The report will be available only as long as X determines its eligibility criteria. When the feature was first introduced, X said users had to have published at least 10 posts in the last month for the aggregate report to be available. It also targeted accounts that were at least one year old at the start.
Country-Specific Restrictions Can Be Identified
One of the critical aspects of the update is the ability to distinguish certain legal restrictions based on geography. If X receives a valid and properly scoped legal request to withhold content from any particular jurisdiction, then the restriction only applies to users in that country.
That means a post that is not accessible to users in one country can still be accessible elsewhere. Such a restriction should not necessarily mean the content has been removed worldwide.
X has already explained that country-level withholding can occur when content is found to violate local laws or the company receives an authorised legal request. Depending on the situation, users can get notifications about such actions through X or through the email address on their account.
The expanded Under the Hood report helps users to identify these actions and understand why the visibility of their content may differ between countries.
Who Can Access The Report?
The transparency report is not automatically available to every account under the same conditions. X's initial requirements included having an account that was at least one year old and publishing at least 10 posts during the previous month.
Users who meet the criteria can look at the Under the Hood section and submit a report if needed. As the tool develops, information collected by these reports to creators or other active users could provide a better insight into the factors that influence how different factors affect how they are visible to the public.
For users who regularly publish content for audiences in multiple countries, country-specific information could be especially useful. It might help distinguish between a post being unavailable because of a legal requirement in a specific jurisdiction and a wider change in how X's recommendation systems distribute content.
Why The Update Matters
The expansion is coming at a time when online platforms are required to operate under different legal frameworks across countries. Laws governing online content, privacy, misinformation, copyright and other aspects of content development can differ substantially from one country to another and so global platforms have to make region-specific decisions.
X’s new change is focused on making some of those decisions more visible to users. Rather than simply leaving users to discern a sudden drop in reach without further information, the Under the Hood report could indicate when government-related restrictions are involved.
The move is also on top of X’s transparency efforts in relation to its recommendation and moderation systems. The platform has also made public some of its recommendation system technology and provided users with more insights into how content is handled.
With the latest update, X is extending that transparency beyond content recommendations and moderation to incorporate the impact of local legal requirements.
For creators, journalists, businesses and other users who have posts reaching audiences in diverse countries, the ability to identify jurisdiction-specific restrictions may be helpful when taking into account changes in visibility. At the same time, the report only presents information that X provides through the tool so it can be viewed as a transparency tool rather than one that is a complete explanation for every change in post reach.
