Trump blasts EU regulators for targeting Apple, Google, Meta | Microsoft to train 1 million South Africans on AI skills | Pakistan’s parliament passes bill with sweeping controls on social media

Good morning. It's Friday 24th of January.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

Follow us on X, on LinkedIn, and on BlueSky.

• US President Donald Trump blasted European Union regulators for targeting Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc., describing their cases against American companies as “a form of taxation.” Bloomberg

• Microsoft aims to provide 1 million people in South Africa with artificial intelligence and cyber security training opportunities by 2026, Lillian Barnard, President for Microsoft Africa, said on Thursday. Reuters

• Pakistan’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a controversial bill that will give the government sweeping controls on social media, including sending users to prison for spreading disinformation. Associated Press

ASPI

Fighting deepfakes: what’s next after legislation?
The Strategist
Fitriani
Deepfake technology is weaponising artificial intelligence in a way that disproportionately targets women, especially those working public roles, compromising their dignity, safety, and ability to participate in public life. This digital abuse requires urgent global action, as it not only infringes on human rights but also affects their democratic participation.

World

OASIS launches global initiative to standardise cyber threat intelligence sharing in space
Associated Press
As space operations become increasingly complex, the demand for effective threat intelligence sharing is more crucial than ever. In response to the growing cyber threats targeting critical space infrastructure, OASIS Open, the global open source and standards organisation, announced the launch of the Space Automated Threat Intelligence Sharing Technical Committee. The TC will address the unique threats to satellites, ground stations, and other space infrastructure by enhancing the ability to predict, prevent, and respond to cyber threats specific to space.

China

Tech war: China poised to expand AI infrastructure to keep pace with US Stargate project
South China Morning Post
Ben Jiang
China is expected to step up digital infrastructure development to drive its artificial intelligence ambitions, according to analysts, after the Trump administration unveiled the US$500 billion Stargate Project to further advance the United States’ lead in the vital technology. The Stargate Project – a venture initially led by SoftBank Group, ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Oracle and Emirati investment firm MGX – plans to plough up to US$500 billion in the US over the next four years into an advanced network of data centres, housing high-performance computing infrastructure needed for AI development initiatives.

Vice premier tells Dutch king China wants smooth trade
Nikkei Asia
China's Vice President Ding Xuexiang said at a meeting with Dutch King Willem-Alexander in The Hague that China stands ready to increase mutual trust and that it would work together to maintain stability and smoothness of the global supply chain. The meeting was reported by China's foreign ministry on Thursday. It comes days after the Dutch government said it would expand export controls on advanced semiconductor equipment from April 1.

USA

Trump blasts EU regulators for targeting Apple, Google, Meta
Bloomberg
Lynn Doan and Samuel Stolton
US President Donald Trump blasted European Union regulators for targeting Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc., describing their cases against American companies as “a form of taxation.” The EU has established a reputation globally for its aggressive regulation of major technology companies, often sparring with major social media platforms, such as Facebook and X, over content moderation, and the likes of Apple and Google over antitrust concerns.

Kash Patel, Trump’s FBI Pick, Sees Good in QAnon and Evil in the Bureau
The New York Times
Devlin Barrett
Kash Patel, President Trump’s choice to run the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has a favourite saying: “There are no coincidences.” In podcasts, television interviews and public appearances, Mr. Patel supplies that mantra to argue that both the Biden administration and federal agency officials he disparages as the “deep state” or “government gangsters” are perpetually plotting to thwart the will of the people. His now-dormant online show for The Epoch Times, which rose to national prominence after 2016 by promoting right-wing disinformation and Mr. Trump, even featured a graphic with that slogan.

Trump orders crypto working group to draft new regs, explore crypto stockpile
Reuters
Hannah Lang and Trevor Hunnicutt
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order creating a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing a new regulatory framework for digital assets, and exploring the creation of a cryptocurrency stockpile. The much-anticipated action also ordered that banking services for crypto companies be protected, and banned the creation of central bank digital currencies which could compete with existing cryptocurrencies.

Stargate’s first data centre site is size of Central Park, with at least 57 jobs
Bloomberg
Brody Ford, Shirin Ghaffary, and Sarah McBride
In a small Texas city nearly 200 miles west of Dallas, the first data centre associated with the $100 billion Stargate venture from OpenAI, SoftBank Group Corp. and Oracle Corp. is taking shape. About 875 acres in Abilene, or roughly the size of New York’s Central Park, have been set aside to construct data centres. When it’s done, these data centres will help power cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems from OpenAI.

How Chinese A.I. start-up DeepSeek is competing with Silicon Valley giants
The New York Times
Cade Metz and Meaghan Tobin
The day after Christmas, a small Chinese start-up called DeepSeek unveiled a new AI system that could match the capabilities of cutting-edge chatbots from companies like OpenAI and Google. That alone would have been a milestone. But the team behind the system, called DeepSeek-V3, described an even bigger step. In a research paper explaining how they built the technology, DeepSeek’s engineers said they used only a fraction of the highly specialised computer chips that leading A.I. companies relied on to train their systems.

Southeast Asia

Pakistan’s parliament passes bill with sweeping controls on social media
Associated Press
Munir Ahmed
Pakistan’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a controversial bill that will give the government sweeping controls on social media, including sending users to prison for spreading disinformation. The bill was quickly passed after lawmakers from the opposition party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan staged a walkout to denounce the law. Critics say the government is seeking to further suppress freedom of speech.

Cloudflare detected (and blocked) the biggest DDoS attack on record
CyberScoop
Greg Otto
Web infrastructure and security company Cloudflare says it detected the biggest Distributed Denial-of-Service attack ever recorded, a 5.6 terabits per second attack directed at an internet service provider in Eastern Asia. Despite the staggering volume of the attack, Cloudflare successfully managed and mitigated it without human intervention.

Readiness for artificial intelligence-powered tech edges up
The Bangkok Post
Only 21% of organisations in Thailand are fully prepared to deploy and leverage AI-powered technologies, up slightly from 20% last year. This underscores the challenges they face in adopting, deploying and fully leveraging AI, according to the Cisco 2024 AI Readiness Index. The index is based on a double-blind survey of 3,660 senior business leaders from organisations with 500 or more employees across 14 markets in Asia-Pacific. However, when compared with other surveyed countries, full AI readiness in Thailand exceeds the Asia-Pacific average of 15% and global tally of 13%.

Ukraine - Russia

Russia-linked AI websites aim to dupe German voters, study finds
Reuters
Andrey Sychev
Fact-checking firm Newsguard and German investigative outlet Correctiv said on Thursday they had identified a cluster of Russia-linked websites that were spreading false stories in an apparent bid to sway Germany's national election in February. A joint analysis by the two organisations added they had identified links between the 102 websites and John Mark Dougan, a former U.S. police officer now living in exile in Russia.

Europe

Meta’s revised pay-or-consent model criticized by European Consumer Group
The Wall Street Journal
Edith Hancock
A consumer advocacy group has urged European Union regulators to take action against Meta Platforms over its “pay-or-consent” data-tracking model, alleging that the policy may violate consumer, data protection and competition laws. The European Consumer Organisation criticized Meta’s policy, which gives Europeans the option to view “less personalized ads” on their social media feeds without subscribing to avoid being sent personalised advertisements by third parties. The group argued that the policy is problematic and potentially breaches multiple EU laws governing digital privacy and competition.

Spain's leader wants the EU to ‘make social media great again.’ Here's how
Associated Press
Joseph Wilson and Jamey Keaten
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is launching a crusade against what he sees as the downsides of social media. The Socialist leader wants the European Union, which already leads the world in internet regulation, to put additional checks on Elon Musk’s X, trendsetting video app TikTok, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram for having, in his words, put participatory democracy and the mental health of users at risk. “I believe social media are now a common resource for humanity, like the oceans, and they should be protected and managed accordingly,” Sánchez said.

UK

Apple, Google mobile ecosystems face UK probe under new tech rules
The Wall Street Journal
Edith Hancock
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is investigating mobile ecosystems controlled by Apple and Google to work out if they need to obey a strict new law governing digital competition. The CMA said Thursday the probes will assess the companies’ dominance in spaces like mobile phone operating systems, app stores and web browsers and explore their impact on smartphone users as well as developers that rely on those devices to make money. If the investigations determine that the companies have what it calls ‘strategic market status,’ it can impose bespoke rules on them under the new law.

Africa

Microsoft to train 1 million South Africans on AI skills
Reuters
Nqobile Dludla
Microsoft aims to provide 1 million people in South Africa with artificial intelligence and cyber security training opportunities by 2026, Lillian Barnard, President for Microsoft Africa, said on Thursday. Microsoft's AI national skilling initiative targets a broad audience, and in South Africa will prioritise all sectors from companies to government and the youth, Barnard said at the company's "AI Tour" in Johannesburg.

Middle East

Revealed: Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war
The Guardian
Harry Davies and Yuval Abraham
The Israeli military’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology and artificial intelligence systems surged during the most intensive phase of its bombardment of Gaza, leaked documents reveal. The files offer an inside view of how Microsoft deepened its relationship with Israel’s defence establishment after 7 October 2023, supplying the military with greater computing and storage services and striking at least $10m in deals to provide thousands of hours of technical support.

NZ & Pacific Islands

VIDEO: Environmental advocate potentially facing 15 years jail
ABC News
Eddie Tanago, campaign manager at Act Now public advocacy organisation, has been charged by Papua New Guinea police under the Cybercrime Code Act for posting an image of a public official.

Big Tech

Chaebol ramp up US lobbying with Samsung leading the pack
The Korea Herald
Ahn Sung-mi
South Korean conglomerates increased their spending on lobbying in the US last year, with Samsung leading the pack with nearly $7 million. The escalating lobbying activities in the world’s largest economy appear to be in response to changes in US policies, such as the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, and in preparation for the new Trump administration.

Google is giving IT more control over your Chrome extensions
The Verge
Jess Weatherbed
Google has announced some new business features that can help IT admins better manage Chrome browser extensions, a popular attack vector for cybercriminals. A curated Chrome Web Store experience is launching today for any organization using Chrome Enterprise (including the free Chrome Enterprise Core package) that allows pre-approved extensions to be displayed on the landing page, making them easier for employees to find and install.

OpenAI launches Operator—an agent that can use a computer for you
MIT Technology Review
Will Douglas Heaven
After weeks of buzz, OpenAI has released Operator, its first AI agent. Operator is a web app that can carry out simple online tasks in a browser, such as booking concert tickets or filling an online grocery order. The app is powered by a new model called Computer-Using Agent—CUA (“coo-ah”), for short—built on top of OpenAI’s multimodal large language model GPT-4o. Operator is available today at operator.chatgpt.com to people in the US signed up with ChatGPT Pro, OpenAI’s premium $200-a-month service.

LinkedIn sued for allegedly training AI models with private messages without consent
The Record by Recorded Future
Suzanne Smalley
LinkedIn Premium customers are suing the social media platform, alleging that it shared their private messages with third parties without their consent in order to train artificial intelligence models. Last August, LinkedIn “ostensibly” offered users the ability to enable a new privacy feature dictating whether their personal data could be shared, but turned permissions on by default, alleges the proposed class action lawsuit, filed in a California federal court.

Artificial Intelligence

Exclusive: ByteDance plans $20 billion capex in 2025, mostly on AI, sources say
Reuters
ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has earmarked over 150 billion yuan ($20.64 billion) in capital expenditure for this year, much of which will be centred on artificial intelligence, two people briefed on the matter said. The privately held technology giant plans to spend about half of the amount abroad on AI-related infrastructure, primarily data centres and networking equipment, they said.

‘Don’t actually have the money’: Musk queries Trump’s AI project
The Australian
Tech titan Elon Musk cast doubt Wednesday on a $500bn AI project announced by US President Donald Trump, saying the money promised for the investment actually wasn’t there. The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world’s richest man and Mr Trump, with Mr Musk playing a key role in the newly installed administration after spending $270 million on the election campaign. In his first full day in the White House, Mr Trump on Tuesday announced a major investment to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence led by Japanese giant SoftBank and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. Mr Trump said the venture, called Stargate, “will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States”.

Samsung unveils AI smartphones with Qualcomm chips, teases slimmer Galaxy phones
Reuters
Hyunjoo Jin
Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its newest Galaxy S25 smartphones, powered by Qualcomm's chips and Google's artificial-intelligence model, hoping its upgraded AI features can reinvigorate sales and fend off Apple and Chinese rivals.

Events & Podcasts

Safeguarding Australian elections: Addressing AI-enabled disinformation
ASPI
As artificial intelligence advances, it creates new challenges for democracy and electoral integrity. AI-enabled disinformation, deepfakes, and influence operations are increasingly being weaponised to distort political discourse and erode public trust. This event on Thursday 6 February, 5:30-6:30pm, co-hosted by ASPI and CETaS, will focus on the intersection of AI, electoral integrity and democratic resilience.

"Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in Cambodia" report launch
Asia Centre
The report Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence and the Impact on the Civic Freedoms of Women Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Cambodia fills this gap by drawing on desk research and interviews with 12 women representatives from these groups. Upon completion of the research, its key findings will be presented in a report launch where key stakeholders will be invited to participate. To find out more, attend the report launch and discussion on 4 February 2025 from 8.30AM - 12PM in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Jobs

ASPI Deputy Director – Cyber, Technology & Security Program
ASPI
ASPI is seeking a talented leader for the Deputy Director of Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS) Operations. This is an exceptional opportunity to contribute to one of the Indo-Pacific’s leading think tanks, focused on advancing policy and research at the intersection of cyber, technology, and national security. The CTS Program is ASPI’s largest program, and includes ASPI’s China Investigations and Analysis team. The closing date for applications is Friday, 24 January 2025 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.

Trump tech agenda with $500B AI plan | Russian disinformation targets German election | Google rushed to sell AI tools to Israel’s military after Hamas attack

Good morning. It's Thursday 23rd of January.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

Follow us on X, on LinkedIn, and on BlueSky.

• President Donald Trump set about defining his new administration’s technology policy Tuesday, hosting industry CEOs at the White House to announce a massive private-sector investment in infrastructure for artificial intelligence that could reach $500 billion. The Washington Post

• A Russian disinformation campaign is seeking to boost the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), undermine mainstream German parties and sow worries about the economy ahead of the country's Feb. 23 election, a think-tank has found. German think-tank CeMAS said it had tracked down hundreds of German-language posts exhibiting what it said were typical patterns of Russia's Doppelgaenger disinformation campaign. Reuters

• Internal documents show Google directly assisting Israel’s Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces, despite the company’s efforts to publicly distance itself from the country’s national security apparatus after employee protests against a cloud computing contract with Israel’s government. The Washington Post

ASPI

Thousands of imports enter Australia from firms blacklisted by US over alleged Uyghur forced labour links
The Guardian
Christopher Knaus and Helen Davidson
Australia is allowing thousands of imports from Chinese companies blacklisted by the US over alleged links to forced Uyghur labour, including a supplier of parts to Sydney Metro vehicles, government documents have revealed. In 2020 the Australian Strategic Policy Institute estimated more than 80,000 Ugyhurs had been moved out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019. “Australia, if we look at it from international perspective, there’s very little to no action whatsoever, trying to ban or even paying attention to any products … [that are] actually produced by forced labour,” the Australian Uyghur activist Nurgul Sawut said.

World

Cheap, smart, deadly. The tech industry pitches a new way to wage war.
The Washington Post
Gerrit De Vynck
The demonstration showcased parts of an artificial intelligence-infused vision of warfare it hopes can transform the U.S. military under the new Trump administration. It imagines the nation defended by fleets of deadly aerial and undersea drones that can tirelessly patrol the world with minimal need for human intervention, poised to strike if ordered to.

Australia

"Bulletproof" hosting providers: Cracks in the armour of cybercriminal infrastructure
Australian Signals Directorate
Successful cybercriminals rely on secure, undetectable and resilient infrastructure. Beneath every instance of network compromise, stolen credentials, ransomware, or data theft and sale on illicit forums, is secure infrastructure that enables cybercriminals to operate and remain hidden.

China

China to host world’s first human-robot marathon as robotics drives national goals
South China Morning Post
Phoebe Zhang
Can humans and robots face off in a full race? It will happen in Beijing this spring. For the first time, dozens of humanoid robots are expected to join a half-marathon to be held in the capital’s Daxing district in April, according to local authorities. This comes as China ramps up efforts to develop artificial intelligence and robotics, to gain an edge in the tech rivalry with the US as well as combat the challenges of an ageing society and a falling birth rate.

USA

Trump tech agenda begins with $500B private AI plan and cuts to regulation
The Washington Post
Gerrit De Vynck and Nitasha Tiku
President Donald Trump set about defining his new administration’s technology policy Tuesday, hosting industry CEOs at the White House to announce a massive private-sector investment in infrastructure for artificial intelligence that could reach $500 billion.

Trump fires cyber safety board investigating Salt Typhoon hackers
DarkReading
Becky Bracken
In a letter sent today, the acting DHS secretary terminated membership to all advisory boards, including the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) tasked with investigating state-sponsored cyber threats against the US.

Why U.S. tech companies struggle to replicate China’s WeChat ‘super app’ model
CNBC News
Jeff Huang
"The regulatory environment in the U.S. today is certainly not as conducive to allowing a super app to develop,” said Dan Prud’homme, assistant professor at Florida International University’s College of Business. “There are still very strong protections on things like peer-to-peer lending, data privacy, antitrust and so on that don’t allow the apps in the U.S. to quite thrive in the same way that WeChat could.”

North Asia

Taiwan activates backup communication for Matsu Islands after undersea cables malfunction
The Straits Times
Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said on Jan 22 that undersea cables to the Matsu Islands, which lie close to the coast of China, were disconnected due to “natural deterioration” and backup communications were activated. Deputy Digital Minister Chiueh Herming told reporters in a briefing that no “suspicious” ships were detected when the cables went offline. He said “natural deterioration” was the likely cause, but added that cases of ships damaging Taiwan’s sea cables were on the rise in recent years.

Ukraine - Russia

Russian telecom giant Rostelecom investigates suspected cyberattack on contractor
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
A major Russian telecommunications provider, Rostelecom, said that it is investigating a suspected cyberattack on one of its contractors after hackers claimed to have leaked the company's data.

Europe

Russian disinformation targets German election campaign, says think-tank
Reuters
A Russian disinformation campaign is seeking to boost the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), undermine mainstream German parties and sow worries about the economy ahead of the country's Feb. 23 election, a think-tank has found. German think-tank CeMAS said it had tracked down hundreds of German-language posts exhibiting what it said were typical patterns of Russia's Doppelgaenger disinformation campaign.

Germany proposes tougher EU response to hybrid threats from Russia
POLITICO
Nette Nöstlinger and Hans Von Der Burchard
Germany is calling on EU countries to take a tougher stance on hybrid threats coming from Russia — including by expanding the bloc’s sanctions regime and limiting access to Europe by Moscow’s diplomatic missions.

Tech billionaires want to ‘overthrow democracy’ with social media, Spain PM Sánchez says
POLITICO
Aitor Hernández-Morales and Sarah Wheaton
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday that tech billionaires want to use social media “to overthrow democracy” — adding he’ll push EU leaders to take action. “The technology that was intended to free us has become the tool of our own oppression,” he said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The social media that was supposed to bring unity, clarity and democracy have instead given us division, vice and a reactionary agenda.”

Trump’s $500B AI plan is ‘slap’ in the face for Europe
POLITICO
Pieter Haeck
The United States just fired the starting gun on an artificial intelligence race where Europe won't be able to keep up. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled a half-trillion-dollar project to build the infrastructure needed to cement U.S. AI dominance in the years to come, starting with a data center in Texas. The level of ambition has jaws dropping in Europe where political leaders have pinned hopes on AI helping to restore the continent's global leadership.

UK

Stop working for Russia, Britain tells its private spies
POLITICO
Mason Boycott-Owen
In new guidance for security professionals published this week, the U.K. Home Office said such work risks breaking tough new national security laws — and could even see pros sent to prison for up to 14 years. British security companies are being told to carry out due diligence to ensure their clients aren’t working for a foreign power looking to threaten the interests of the U.K.

Britain purged its antitrust watchdog. Big Tech couldn’t be happier.
POLITICO
Tom Bristow
Britain’s chancellor and business secretary sat calmly under the Davos lights on Wednesday morning as they tried to sell the U.K. as a top investment destination. But just the night before, they’d shocked their country’s independent regulators by booting out the chair of the antitrust watchdog — and replacing him with a former tech executive. The message and its timing were clear. Regulators needed to make “pro-business decisions," Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said.

Middle East

Google rushed to sell AI tools to Israel’s military after Hamas attack
The Washington Post
Gerrit De Vynck
The internal documents show Google directly assisting Israel’s Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces, despite the company’s efforts to publicly distance itself from the country’s national security apparatus after employee protests against a cloud computing contract with Israel’s government.

NZ & Pacific Islands

ID card disinformation fuels confusion over PNG hospital policy
Australian Associated Press
Kate Atkinson
However, in the top corner, a URL for the website Break Your Own News is visible. The site allows users to generate fake or parody news reports, and AAP FactCheck easily recreated the same image. The hospital issued a statement confirming the claims are false.

Gender & Women in Tech

Meta’s new policies and Australia’s social media ban: Why marginalised voices could lose the most
Missing Perspectives
Varsha Yajman
“It’s clear that Meta doesn’t accept that technology must be designed with different needs and cultures in mind,” says Notley, who leads the Advancing Media Literacy research program at WSU.

Big Tech

One tech mogul spends inauguration day in China
The Wall Street Journal
Raffaele Huang
For all the tech moguls at President Trump’s inauguration—Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and many more—one was missing: Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive of chip company Nvidia. He is spending time this week in China, where the U.S. has restricted sales of many advanced Nvidia semiconductors used for developing artificial intelligence.

In Davos and Washington, tech execs gather under divergent goals
The Washington Post
Every four years, the elite winter confab falls close to Inauguration Day, but the overlap this year seems less of a coincidence than a stark collision of worldviews over global leadership.

Artificial Intelligence

Knowing less about AI makes people more open to having it in their lives – new research
The Conversation
Chiara Longoni, Gil Appel and Stephanie Tully
These insights pose a challenge for policymakers and educators. Efforts to boost AI literacy might unintentionally dampen people’s enthusiasm for using AI by making it seem less magical. This creates a tricky balance between helping people understand AI and keeping them open to its adoption.

AI isn’t very good at history, new paper finds
TechCrunch
Charles Rollet
A team of researchers has created a new benchmark to test three top large language models (LLMs) — OpenAI’s GPT-4, Meta’s Llama, and Google’s Gemini — on historical questions. The benchmark, Hist-LLM, tests the correctness of answers according to the Seshat Global History Databank, a vast database of historical knowledge named after the ancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom. The results, which were presented last month at the high-profile AI conference NeurIPS, were disappointing, according to researchers affiliated with the Complexity Science Hub (CSH), a research institute based in Austria. The best-performing LLM was GPT-4 Turbo, but it only achieved about 46% accuracy — not much higher than random guessing.

Misc

Here come the robots and the companies set to make trillions
The Australian
Electronics titans have tried for years to crack the home robot market, but one company thinks it finally has made the perfect one that will be big business.

Research

A theory of international technology regulation
Review of International Studies
Florian Rabitz
Technology is of increasing importance for international cooperation, yet theory development in rationalist International Relations has not kept pace. I develop a theoretical framework for explaining cooperative outcomes in the international regulation of technology.

Disinformation and cognitive warfare
Perth USAsia Centre
Alana Ford
Disinformation and Cognitive Warfare examines the pervasive threat of disinformation and cognitive warfare in the Indo-Pacific, where open information environments and complex geopolitical dynamics heighten vulnerabilities. From the historical evolution of information warfare to its modern manifestation powered by AI, social media, and data manipulation, the brief unpacks how these tactics are reshaping national security and undermining democratic institutions. Drawing on global examples, it highlights the implications for regional stability and democratic resilience.

Events & Podcasts

Safeguarding Australian elections: Addressing AI-enabled disinformation
ASPI
As artificial intelligence advances, it creates new challenges for democracy and electoral integrity. AI-enabled disinformation, deepfakes, and influence operations are increasingly being weaponised to distort political discourse and erode public trust. This event on Thursday 6 February, 5:30-6:30pm, co-hosted by ASPI and CETaS, will focus on the intersection of AI, electoral integrity and democratic resilience.

Myanmar’s Digital Coup - How the World Responded
Australian Institute of International Affairs
Nicholas Coppel and Lennon Chang
February marks four years since Myanmar's junta seized power in a violent and deadly coup. Four years on, the military's firm grip on Myanmar's telecommunications infrastructure empowers them to weaponise internet shutdowns in regions where anti-coup resistance is strong and, operating under the guise of e-government projects, the regime raises funds and collects resources to strengthen its extensive surveillance infrastructure.

Jobs

ASPI Deputy Director – Cyber, Technology & Security Program
ASPI
ASPI is seeking a talented leader for the Deputy Director of Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS) Operations. This is an exceptional opportunity to contribute to one of the Indo-Pacific’s leading think tanks, focused on advancing policy and research at the intersection of cyber, technology, and national security. The CTS Program is ASPI’s largest program, and includes ASPI’s China Investigations and Analysis team. The closing date for applications is Friday, 24 January 2025 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.

Trump issues flurry of day-one executive orders | Poland fumes over US block of AI chip exports | China warns against US-China AI competition

Good morning. It's Wednesday 22nd of January.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

Follow us on X, on LinkedIn, and on BlueSky.

• President Donald Trump's flurry of day-one actions included a reprieve for TikTok, the creation of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an order on social media "censorship," a declaration of an energy emergency, and reversal of a Biden order on artificial intelligence. ArsTechnica

• As a frontline, long-time adversary of Russia, Warsaw is proportionally the biggest military spender in NATO and has prioritized ties to the United States. It therefore came as a shock when Warsaw was the most notable European Union victim of the decision by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden last week to cap coveted AI chip exports. POLITICO

• China’s vice-premier warned that the development of artificial intelligence could pose a major risk if it is not carefully managed, amid a rivalry with the US that has seen the emerging technology take centre stage. South China Morning Post

Australia

Disaster experts call for more funding for new technologies to fight future fires in Australia
ABC
Digby Werthmuller
Firefighting drones and water gliders. AI-powered fire detection. Remote sensors, satellites and live feeds to firefighters. It's the future of firefighting and in the wake of the catastrophic Los Angeles blazes, disaster experts are urging Australian governments to invest heavily in these new technologies.

Canberrans flock to high-paying, in-demand sector with free qualifications
Canberra Times
Connor Pearce
Cyber security is the most popular course in the ACT, as the critical sector grapples with an ongoing skills shortage. Figures from Skills Minister Andrew Giles's office show that a Certificate IV in Cyber Security is the most popular vocational course in the ACT for enrolments, followed by qualifications in early childhood education in care, business, community services and mental health.

China

China has raised the cyber stakes
Foreign Affairs
Adam Segal
Chinese-sponsored cyber-espionage is not new, but Salt Typhoon was unprecedented in its breadth. The full extent of the breach, and the degree to which hackers still have access to that information, remains unknown, but the vice chair of the Select Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, has called the attack “the worst telecom hack in our nation’s history.”

USA

Trump issues flurry of orders on TikTok, DOGE, social media, AI, and energy
ArsTechnica
Jon Brodkin and John Timmer
President Donald Trump's flurry of day-one actions included a reprieve for TikTok, the creation of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an order on social media "censorship," a declaration of an energy emergency, and reversal of a Biden order on artificial intelligence.

• Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks
  Reuters
  David Shepardson
  Biden's order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.

• Biden’s sweeping AI order scrapped by Trump in regulatory reset
  Bloomberg
  Jackie Davalos and Oma Seddiq
  The move immediately halts the implementation of key safety and transparency requirements for AI developers.

• Trump signs executive order in attempt to stall TikTok ban
  The New York Times
  David McCabe
  President Trump signed an executive order on Monday to delay enforcing a federal ban of TikTok for 75 days, even though the law took effect on Sunday and it is unclear that such a move could override it.

• What’s next for EVs under President Trump?
  Associated Press

  Alexa St. John and Matthew Daly
  Trump’s order, entitled “Unleashing American Energy,’' revokes a non-binding goal set by Biden that EVs make up half of new cars sold by 2030. The order also seeks to terminate a federal exemption that allows California to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.

Bannon says tech billionaires have 'surrendered' to Trump
ABC News
Caleigh Bartash and Eric Fayeulle
Meta's Zuckerberg and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos are among the tech executives set to appear at the inauguration, alongside close Trump ally Elon Musk, the world's richest man. Meta and Amazon are just two of the tech giants who have given money to President-elect Trump's inaugural fund. In the wake of Trump's victory in November a handful of tech's most powerful executives have made trips to Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida for meetings with the president-elect.

Ukraine - Russia

Russian ransomware hackers increasingly posing as tech support on Microsoft Teams
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
Russian cybercriminals are adopting a scam in which they pose as tech support on Microsoft Teams to convince victims they have an IT issue before tricking employees into allowing them to install ransomware on the targets’ computer networks. British cybersecurity company Sophos reported on Thursday to have seen more than 15 incidents in which two separate groups used Microsoft Office 365’s default service settings to socially engineer their way onto a victim’s system.

Hackers impersonate Ukraine’s CERT to trick people into allowing computer access
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Ukrainian researchers have identified a new cyber campaign in which attackers posed as tech support from Ukraine's computer emergency response team (CERT-UA) to gain unauthorized access to victims' devices. The intruders used AnyDesk, a legitimate remote desktop software, to establish remote access to their computers over the internet, according to CERT-UA's latest report.

Europe

Poland fumes over US block on AI chips
POLITICO
Pieter Haeck
As a frontline, long-time adversary of Russia, Warsaw is proportionally the biggest military spender in NATO and has prioritized ties to the United States. It therefore came as a shock when Warsaw was the most notable European Union victim of the decision by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden last week to cap coveted AI chip exports.

Europol chief says Big Tech has ‘responsibility’ to unlock encrypted messages
Financial Times
Suzi Ring and Laura Dubois
Technology giants must do more to co-operate with law enforcement on encryption or they risk threatening European democracy, according to the head of Europol, as the agency gears up to renew pressure on companies at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

Don’t go soft on US Big Tech, European Parliament urges
POLITICO
Pieter Haeck
European Union lawmakers are pushing enforcers to resist any pressure from the United States over laws that curb Big Tech. Influential members of the European Parliament are worried that the European Commission may back off from tough enforcement of rules that regulate social media, digital competition and artificial intelligence for fear of retaliation from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

UK

Starmer warns of online radicalization in wake of Southport murders
POLITICO
Laurie Clarke
Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a fresh warning about the dangers of online radicalization, as he pointed out that the teenager who carried out July’s deadly Southport attack, Axel Rudakubana, watched violent online content before killing three young girls in a knife attack last summer. “The responsibility for this barbaric act lies, as it always does, with the vile individual who carried it out,” Starmer said on Tuesday, one day after the 18-year-old pleaded guilty to his crimes.

Big Tech

Elon Musk complains about China ban on X as Donald Trump prepares TikTok reprieve
Financial Times
Ryan McMorrow and Joe Leahy
Musk, who has long sought to maintain close ties with Communist party officials in China, a core market and production centre for his electric-car company Tesla, has for years been careful in his statements about Beijing. But he said on Sunday that “something needs to change” after Trump said he would “most likely” extend a deadline for Chinese tech group ByteDance to divest from TikTok, which faced a ban under a US law that briefly forced it offline.

I secretly worked from Mexico for Big Tech companies like Meta. The lower cost of living was worth the risk
Business Insider
Kimanzi Constable
When the pandemic started, we were told remote work would be mandatory. That made the decision to go to Mexico much easier. I started that contract in California but didn't tell my bosses about my decision to move to Mexico. I moved with just some luggage, set up my life and workstation in Cancún, and started working for Meta remotely from Mexico. I had no time-zone challenges. The cost of living was incredible compared to California — it was the total package for me.

Artificial Intelligence

China’s vice-premier says chaotic competition on AI could bring ‘grey rhino’
South China Morning Post
Victoria Bela and Enoch Wong
China’s vice-premier warned that the development of artificial intelligence could pose a major risk if it is not carefully managed, amid a rivalry with the US that has seen the emerging technology take centre stage.

• There can be no winners in a US-China AI arms race
  MIT Technology Review
  Alvin Wang Graylin and Paul Triolo
  The belief that the US can win in such a race was based mostly on the early advantage it had over China in advanced GPU compute resources and the effectiveness of AI’s scaling laws. But now it appears that access to large quantities of advanced compute resources is no longer the defining or sustainable advantage many had thought it would be.

• Huawei seeks to grab market share in AI chips from Nvidia in China
  Financial Times
  Eleanor Olcott
  Instead of challenging Nvidia in training, Huawei is positioning its latest Ascend AI processors as the hardware of choice for Chinese groups running “inference”, the computation undertaken by LLMs to generate a response to a prompt.

Goldman Sachs CEO says that AI can draft 95% of an IPO prospectus in minutes
Fortune
Paolo Confino
Writing documents for the SEC is the exact sort of work that public and private companies of all sizes have historically relied on investment banks to advise them on. Investment banks often had the deep financial and legal expertise to properly navigate the intricacies of complex financial transactions that would have to be reported to regulators. With the rise of AI, investment banks like Goldman are rethinking their value proposition to clients.

The hidden risks we scroll past: the problem with TikTok—and RedNote
The Strategist
Jason Van der Schyff
Australians often focus on visible threats, but the digital realm poses less obvious yet equally significant dangers. Yet, when it comes to the digital landscape, a blind spot remains: the hidden risks posed by platforms such as TikTok and RedNote (Xiaohongshu). These apps are more than just harmless entertainment; they’re tools in a global battle for data and influence. And we, as a society, remain largely unaware.

The global struggle over how to regulate AI
Rest of World
Katie McQue, Laís Martins, Ananya Bhattacharya and Carien du Plessis
AI’s proselytizers say it will revolutionize industries, supercharge scientific research, and make many aspects of life and work more efficient. On the other side of the debate, politicians, tech experts, representatives of industries affected by AI, and civil society advocates argue forcefully for far stricter regulations. They want early implementation of rules around copyright, data protections, and fair labor practices, as well as uses that affect public safety such as generative deepfakes, the creation of chemical and biological weapons, and cyberattacks.

Misc

The Japanese tech titan who came to kiss Trump’s ring
POLITICO
Lionel Barber
One by one, they lined up to pay tribute to President Donald Trump. Business leaders, critics, media pundits and vanquished political opponents: All made the trek to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. The scenes evoked the court of a medieval king. Among the visitors in mid-December was Masayoshi Son, the Japanese founder and CEO of media technology conglomerate SoftBank. Son is probably the most powerful tech mogul who is not a household name. After playing six hours of golf with Trump, Son pledged to invest $100 billion in the U.S. economy — twice the amount he pledged at a carbon copy meeting in Trump Tower in December 2016.

Events and Podcasts

Safeguarding Australian elections: Addressing AI-enabled disinformation
ASPI
As artificial intelligence advances, it creates new challenges for democracy and electoral integrity. AI-enabled disinformation, deepfakes, and influence operations are increasingly being weaponised to distort political discourse and erode public trust. This event on Thursday 6 February, 5:30-6:30pm, co-hosted by ASPI and CETaS, will focus on the intersection of AI, electoral integrity and democratic resilience.

Jobs

ASPI Deputy Director – Cyber, Technology & Security Program
ASPI
ASPI is seeking a talented leader for the Deputy Director of Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS) Operations. This is an exceptional opportunity to contribute to one of the Indo-Pacific’s leading think tanks, focused on advancing policy and research at the intersection of cyber, technology, and national security. The CTS Program is ASPI’s largest program, and includes ASPI’s China Investigations and Analysis team. The closing date for applications is Friday, 24 January 2025 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.

China signals it is open to a deal keeping TikTok in US | Facebook, X, YouTube to do more against online hate speech | Meta will keep its fact checkers outside of the US 'for now'

Good morning. It's Tuesday 21st of January.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

Follow us on X, on LinkedIn, and on BlueSky.

• The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Monday that companies can make their own decisions on operations and acquisitions, a reversal of the government’s previous position that it would block any forced sale of TikTok. The Wall Street Journal

• Meta's Facebook, Elon Musk's X, Google's YouTube and other tech companies have agreed to do more to tackle online hate speech under an updated code of conduct that will now be integrated into EU tech rules. Reuters

• Meta Platforms will continue to use its fact checkers outside of the US “for now” even as the Instagram and Facebook owner does away with the practice at home. Bloomberg

Australia

New think tank urges Albanese to stand up to Trump’s big tech buddies
The Australian Financial Review
Tess Bennett
A tech industry-backed think tank is urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to go head-to-head with American social media giants over plans to regulate them more heavily, even as the companies cosy up to President-elect Donald Trump who they hope will loosen the rules.

Security researchers warn of insecure Chinese IoT devices on the Aussie market
CyberDaily
David Hollingworth
Researchers at Australian cyber security firm CyberCX have issued a warning regarding poorly secured, Chinese-made IoT devices in the wake of hackers compromising an internet-connected doorbell and camera.

China

China signals it is open to a deal keeping TikTok in US
The Wall Street Journal
Raffaele Huang & Stu Woo
China suggested it was willing to work with Donald Trump to keep TikTok operating in the US. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Monday that companies can make their own decisions on operations and acquisitions, a reversal of the government’s previous position that it would block any forced sale of TikTok.

USA

Trump could sign TikTok order in the Rotunda
POLITICO
Meredith Lee Hill & Rachael Bade
Advisers to Donald Trump have discussed having the incoming president sign an executive order to “save” TikTok shortly after he’s sworn in Monday in the Capitol Rotunda — in the presence of the video app’s chief executive as well as lawmakers who backed legislation to ban the app as a national security threat.

• TikTok ban: all the news on the app’s shutdown and return in the US
  The Verge
  Jon Porter
  TikTok is coming back online after briefly going dark in the US to comply with the divest-or-ban law that went into effect on January 19th.

Drone makers looking to steer clear of China fear Beijing's wrath
The Wall Street Journal
Joyu Wang & Heather Somerville
For US companies, dependence on China has become untenable, particularly as Beijing shows it is willing to cut off their access to essential supplies. In Taiwan, that spells opportunity. However, recent examples of Beijing punishing companies for their ties to Taiwan have made US businesses cautious in their efforts to avoid China.

‘We’ve impeded China’: departing official defends US export controls
Financial Times
Demetri Sevastopulo
For the past four years, Alan Estevez has been finding new obstacles to place in China’s path as it tries to use US technology to develop cutting-edge chips and artificial intelligence. Estevez conceded that US policy could do no more than slow China since it had smart engineers, money to invest and government support. But he said Washington had been successful, pointing to statements from Chinese AI groups identifying US export controls as their main obstacle.

CIA's chatbot stands in for world leaders
The New York Times
Julian E Barnes
Over the last two years, the Central Intelligence Agency has developed a tool that allows analysts to talk to virtual versions of foreign presidents and prime ministers, who answer back. The spy agency is trying to give its teams better tools and make it easier for the private sector to develop technology for their secretive work.

North Asia

Hit by wave of online attacks, Japan shifts to ‘active cyber defence’
The Straits Times
Walter Sim
Japan aims to take a more proactive approach to cyber defence by allowing hackers working for the authorities to “attack” pre-emptively to prevent or stop sabotage attempts. Under a new strategy of “active cyber defence”, Japan plans to allow hackers working for the police or Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to infiltrate servers to neutralise the source of cyber attacks.

Southeast Asia

Philippines arrests Chinese national suspected of spying on critical infrastructure
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Philippine authorities have arrested a Chinese national and two Filipino citizens suspected of conducting surveillance on critical infrastructure, including military facilities, the country’s National Bureau of Investigation said on Monday.

S’pore actor Laurence Pang loses $35k to pretty face in online scam in Philippines
The Straits Times
Mara Cepeda
In a plot twist worthy of a drama series, a veteran Singaporean actor fell for an online charmer who later turned out to be more of a con artist than his next romantic lead. Mr Laurence Pang, 78, lost nearly 1.5 million pesos (S$35,000) after he was duped by “Mika”, a woman he met on a dating site, into investing his money in an online business scam in the Philippines.

South & Central Asia

After Musk-Ambani tussle, India bets satellite spectrum policy can attract many companies
Reuters
Aditya Kalra & Aditi Shah
India's decision to allocate satellite spectrum, rather than auction it, will give consumers more choice, the telecoms minister said on Monday, playing down concern by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio that it could lose out to Elon Musk's Starlink.

Ukraine - Russia

Ukraine restores state registers after suspected Russian cyberattack
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Ukraine has restored the infrastructure of its state registers, which were disrupted last month by a major cyberattack believed to have been carried out by Russian military intelligence hackers.

Europe

Facebook, X, YouTube to do more against online hate speech, EU says
Reuters
Foo Yun Chee
Meta's Facebook, Elon Musk's X, Google's YouTube and other tech companies have agreed to do more to tackle online hate speech under an updated code of conduct that will now be integrated into EU tech rules, the European Commission said on Monday.

EU takes China to WTO over high-tech patent royalties
Reuters
The European Commission filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization on Monday against what it said was China's "unfair and illegal" practice of setting worldwide royalty rates for EU standard essential patents without the patent owner's consent.

Le Monde, French newspaper of record, quits Elon Musk’s X
POLITICO
Csongor Körömi
One of France's most prominent newspapers, Le Monde, is abandoning Elon Musk's X, the paper's editor-in-chief announced Monday. In his editorial, Jérôme Fenoglio said the burgeoning alliance between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and "social platform bosses" like Musk and Mark Zuckerberg poses a global threat to free access to reliable information.

Western European companies now see cyber threat as bigger risk than conflict or inflation
The Irish Times
Eoin Burke-Kennedy
Business leaders in western Europe see the risk of cyber attack as a bigger threat than conflict, technical disruption, inflation or climate change. That’s according to consultancy PwC’s latest “Global CEO Survey”, which was published on Monday at the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

UK

AI tool can give ministers ‘vibe check’ on whether MPs will like policies
The Guardian
Jessica Elgot & Robert Booth
A new artificial intelligence tool can warn ministers whether policies are likely to be very unpopular with their party’s MPs, using a search described as a “parliamentary vibe check”.

UK charging firm warns over changes to electric car sales amid ‘difficult’ market
The Guardian
Jasper Jolly
A charging company has said proposed UK changes to electric car sales rules could increase uncertainty over demand, as it said that it had been caught out by lower numbers of purchases by British drivers.

Africa

Apple hit by Belgian probe over ‘blood minerals’ from Congo
Financial Times
David Pilling, Alice Hancock, Laura Dubois & Michael Acton
Belgium has started a criminal probe into allegations that Apple has knowingly sourced “blood minerals” from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in what lawyers for the central African country have called a “massive laundering and greenwashing operation”. Lawyers for DRC allege iPhones and other electronics use minerals supplied by armed groups behind atrocities.

Big Tech

Meta will keep its fact checkers outside of the US 'for now'
Bloomberg
Jillian Deutsch
Meta Platforms will continue to use its fact checkers outside of the US “for now” even as the Instagram and Facebook owner does away with the practice at home, the company’s head of global business Nicola Mendelsohn said.

The TikTok boomerang
The Strategist
Angela Huyue Zhang
Since US data security was the rationale for the TikTok ban, American users’ migration to other Chinese apps only amplifies those concerns. Unlike TikTok—a platform that does not operate in China and is not subject to Chinese law—RedNote is a domestic Chinese app bound by strict Chinese regulations.

Welcome to the era of gangster tech regulation
The Verge
Elizabeth Lopatto
Our tech overlords all have problems, and they want to buy the solutions.

Events & Podcasts

Safeguarding Australian elections: Addressing AI-enabled disinformation
ASPI
As artificial intelligence advances, it creates new challenges for democracy and electoral integrity. AI-enabled disinformation, deepfakes, and influence operations are increasingly being weaponised to distort political discourse and erode public trust. This event on Thursday 6 February, 5:30-6:30pm, co-hosted by ASPI and CETaS, will focus on the intersection of AI, electoral integrity and democratic resilience.

Women in Cyber Summit
AISA
The Women in Cyber Summit will be held in The Great Hall at Parliament House, Canberra on Thursday 6 February 2025 starting at 9:00 am and concluding at 5:00 pm. The summit program will feature a full day of presentations and interactive panel session sessions with leading government and industry speakers.

Jobs

ASPI Deputy Director – Cyber, Technology & Security Program
ASPI
ASPI is seeking a talented leader for the Deputy Director of Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS) Operations. This is an exceptional opportunity to contribute to one of the Indo-Pacific’s leading think tanks, focused on advancing policy and research at the intersection of cyber, technology, and national security. The CTS Program is ASPI’s largest program, and includes ASPI’s China Investigations and Analysis team. The closing date for applications is Friday, 24 January 2025 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.

TikTok restoring US service after Donald Trump pledges to delay ban | Is TikTok pushing Taiwan’s young people closer to China? | Brussels orders X to hand over documents on algorithm

Good morning. It's Monday 20th of January.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

Follow us on X, on LinkedIn, and on BlueSky.

• Former US President Donald Trump’s renewed executive order threatens to ban TikTok unless Chinese owner ByteDance sells its US operations. Officials claim the app poses national security risks by gathering user data. TikTok denies wrongdoing and plans legal challenges amid bipartisan calls for stricter oversight. ABC News

• Taiwanese researchers worry TikTok usage by the island’s youth is eroding pro-independence attitudes. They suspect the app’s pro-China content fosters more tolerant views of Beijing, especially among politically disenchanted youngsters. While officials debate banning TikTok, some warn censorship could undermine democratic trust and broader stability. Financial Times

• Brussels has demanded Elon Musk’s X disclose internal documents about its recommendation algorithm, expanding an EU probe into alleged preferential treatment of far-right content. The Commission’s order requires details on moderation, amplification, and future algorithm changes, amid mounting German concerns, heavy political pressure and scrutiny. Financial Times

ASPI

Preparing Australia for Trump’s return: do more, spend more, risk more
The Strategist
James Corera and Malcolm Davis
Australia needs to show Trump a persuasive value proposition around what it’s doing for its own security and, as a result, for regional security and the Australia-US alliance. So, lifting spending on defence and technologies to enhance military and cyber capabilities is the first priority to consider as we look towards a new Trump administration. With almost daily reports about Beijing’s increasing control of the information domain, including through the hacking of US and Australian critical infrastructure, Australia should make addressing Beijing’s malign actions a top-tier joint effort with the Trump administration, using and going beyond AUKUS Pillar 2 on advanced technologies.

Lifting of US curbs on Indian nuclear entities will boost collaboration, get tech access: Experts
The Deccan Herald
PTI
America's decision is positive and reflective of the changed and more strategically-oriented relationship between India and the US, contended Rajeshwari Pillai Rajgopalan, a Resident Senior Fellow with the Canberra-based Australian Strategic Policy Institute. "This should have been done a long time ago. The Indian nuclear establishment remains a mature one, having developed most technologies indigenously. Nevertheless, if India and the US were to meaningfully collaborate in the civil nuclear sector, continuing sanctions on institutions such as BARC were a bit strange and contradictory," she said.

Joining BRICS, Indonesia sticks with multi-alignment strategy
The Strategist
Fitriani
Joining BRICS aligns with Indonesia’s interest to engage with non-traditional markets. However, such initiatives as the BRICS Technology Transfer Center Network, which was proposed by China in 2018, raise concerns about intellectual property protection and equitable benefit-sharing. It is unclear to what extent the arrangements would protect Indonesia’s intellectual property and that of other countries. Jakarta must ensure these arrangements safeguard its interests to maximise the benefits of membership.

Australia

Labor, Coalition and Climate 200 set up unbranded Facebook pages to throw mud at each other
The Guardian
Josh Butler
Australians will be deluged by negative political ads on social media by a string of dedicated attack pages in the lead-up to the federal election, as the two major parties and large campaign groups set up networks of Facebook profiles and pay thousands to promote negativity on their opponents.

China

RedNote Scrambles to hire English-speaking content moderators
WIRED
Yang Zeyi
The Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu—better known internationally as RedNote—is scrambling to boost its ability to moderate English-language content after hundreds of thousands of American users suddenly joined the platform in anticipation of TikTok potentially being banned in the United States on Sunday.

Drivers of China’s science and tech goals revealed as US rivalry intensifies
South China Morning Post
Vanessa Cai
Policy meeting led by Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang unveils China’s tech leadership team, with observer noting focus on military-civil fusion. A high-profile policy meeting has revealed the key official players behind China’s science and technology drive, as the country pushes for more unified leadership in the sensitive sectors.

America

EV sales in Ecuador are surging despite crippling power cuts
Rest of World
Carolina Loza León and Daniela Dib
While EV users have been left in the dark during a prolonged energy crisis, many still prefer dealing with the hassle to the high cost of gas. Frequent electricity cuts have left hundreds of EV users in Ecuador struggling to charge their vehicles. EV sales grew more than 1,000% between 2022 and 2024, due to government incentives and affordable Chinese EVs. Companies have done little to help users during the outages.

USA

TikTok restoring US service after Donald Trump pledges to delay ban
ABC News
Brad Ryan
Donald Trump says he'll issue an order to delay a ban on TikTok, to allow time for negotiations to keep it operating in the US. In response, TikTok says it is restoring services after it went offline to comply with the ban. TikTok's CEO is expected to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday, local time, as a guest of honour.

• US Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok
  Al Jazeera
  Al Jazeera
  The US Supreme Court has refused to rescue TikTok from a law that required the popular short-video app to be sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance or banned on Sunday in the United States on national security grounds – a major blow to a platform used by nearly half of all Americans.

• Trump says he will likely grant TikTok a 90-day reprieve from US ban when he takes office
  The Guardian
  Edward Helmore
  Donald Trump has said he will “most likely” give the Chinese-owned TikTok app a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban in the US after he takes office on Monday morning.

US issues sanctions against companies in Laos, China tied to North Korean IT worker scheme
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
The U.S. sanctioned two North Korean nationals and several companies based in Laos and China on Thursday for helping facilitate a wide-ranging scheme that duped American firms into hiring North Korean IT workers who funneled their earnings back home.

Biden to sign executive order on AI and software security
Axios
Sam Sabin
President Biden will sign a wide-reaching cybersecurity executive order today that looks to strengthen the federal government's cybersecurity practices and improve AI-powered cyber defenses. The order comes as the U.S. grapples with several high-profile Chinese government hacks of its systems and top officials' communications. The executive order kicks off the process of setting up a slew of new cybersecurity requirements for government contractors and agency security teams.

US Treasury Department imposes sanctions on Chinese company over Salt Typhoon hack
Reuters
Reuters
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on alleged hacker Yin Kecheng and cybersecurity company Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., accusing both of being involved in a series of hacks against American telecom companies.

Chinese Hackers Accessed Yellen's Computer in US Treasury Breach
Bloomberg
Jake Bleiberg and Jamie Tarabay
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s computer was infiltrated and unclassified files were accessed as part of a broader breach of the agency by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to two people familiar with the matter.

North Asia

Is TikTok pushing Taiwan’s young people closer to China?
Financial Times
Kathrin Hille
A growing number of researchers fear that the controversial app is promoting pro-China content and softening attitudes towards the People’s Republic. How Taiwan tackles these dilemmas will be a valuable case study for many other countries.

Japan's NGK to boost U.S. output of chip equipment parts in Arizona
Nikkei Asia
Yosuke Kawaji
Japan's NGK Insulators will make more components for chipmaking equipment in the U.S., seeing an opportunity to build up its semiconductor-related business. NGK subsidiary FM Industries makes chambers for wafer fabrication equipment in California, and a new production space has been completed in Arizona to increase output.

Southeast Asia

Ring of Chinese scammers used stolen $100M to smuggle iPhones to Asia
USA Today
Michael Loria
A trio of Chinese nationals in New Hampshire pleaded guilty to using stolen gift cards to buy Apple products to ship to East Asia. The cell is one of many expected to be operating in the U.S.

Ukraine - Russia

Russian hackers target WhatsApp accounts of ministers worldwide
The Guardian
Dan Milmo
Russian state-linked hackers have targeted the WhatsApp accounts of government ministers and officials around the world with emails inviting them to join user groups on the messaging app.

Europe

Brussels orders X to hand over documents on algorithm
Financial Times
Javier Espinoza, Andy Bounds and Laura Pitel
Brussels has ordered Elon Musk to fully disclose recent changes made to recommendations on X, stepping up an investigation into the role of the social media platform in European politics.

German defense and foreign ministries suspend activity on Elon Musk’s platform
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Germany's armed forces, as well as its defense and foreign ministries, have suspended their accounts on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, saying that it has become “increasingly difficult” to engage in a “fact-based exchange of arguments” there.

Baltic states' foreign ministers issue appeal on US AI export chip restrictions
ERR
ERR News
Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna, along with the foreign ministers of Latvia and Lithuania, issued a statement expressing grave concern about a recent decision by the United States to restrict exports of Artificial Intelligence chips to the Baltic states and other countries.

Estonian foreign minister: Europe should consider banning TikTok
ERR
ERR News
According to Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, Europe should consider banning the Chinese social media application TikTok, following the example of the United States.

Gender & Women in Tech

3 ways companies can address women’s needs and advance progress for everyone
World Economic Forum
Nigina Muntean
Science and technology have enormous potential to improve people’s lives, but the needs of women are often sidelined when innovations are conceived and brought to market. Women and girls should be top of mind at every stage of the innovation process – from research and development to discovery, design and financing. By prioritizing gender equity, we can build solutions that address the needs of women and girls, and advance progress for all.

Big Tech

As Americans flock to RedNote, privacy advocates warn about surveillance
The Verge
Gaby Del Valle
More than 700,000 US-based users have downloaded RedNote, a popular Chinese social app, as the TikTok ban deadline looms — but they may find themselves looking for yet another TikTok alternative soon. A US official told CBS News that Xiaohongshu, the app more commonly referred to as RedNote, has many of the same issues that caused Congress to ban TikTok and that the app could eventually face a similar ban unless it divests from its China-based parent company.

Apple suspends AI-generated news alert service after BBC complaint
The Guardian
Dan Milmo
Apple is suspending an artificial intelligence feature that made inaccurate summaries of news headlines. The tech company received a complaint from the BBC after the AI-generated service issued a news alert branded with the corporation’s logo falsely telling some iPhone users that Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson, had shot himself.

Google won't add fact checks despite new EU law
Axios
Sara Fischer
Google has told the EU it will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube videos or use them in ranking or removing content, despite the requirements of a new EU law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios.

Experts urge Facebook users to be aware of who is running online communities and think about privacy before sharing
ABC News
Lottie Twyford
A recent revelation by some members of Canberra Mums Group that their local support group was not so local after all has prompted experts to issue a word of "wariness and caution" about these communities. They say there are ways Facebook groups can be monetised, and warn these are not always immediately obvious or transparent. Experts urge social media users to be cautious about the kind of information they share online in any forum.

CISA warns of exploited Fortinet bugs as Microsoft issues its biggest Patch Tuesday in years
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
The federal government and multiple cybersecurity firms warned of a zero-day vulnerability in FortiGate firewalls that hackers are actively exploiting. In a sign of the bug’s severity, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ordered all federal civilian agencies to patch the vulnerability by January 21 — one of the shortest deadlines it has ever issued.

Mark Cuban is ready to fund a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s AT Protocol
TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban is ready to fund a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s AT Protocol, he shared in a TikTok video posted on Wednesday. In anticipation of the coming U.S. TikTok ban, which will go through on Sunday unless paused by the Supreme Court, users have been fleeing to other video platforms, including the Chinese app RedNote.

Artificial Intelligence

L’Oréal: Making cosmetics sustainable with generative AI
Artificial Intelligence News
Ryan Daws
L’Oréal will leverage IBM’s generative AI technology to create innovative and sustainable cosmetic products. The partnership will involve developing a bespoke AI foundation model to supercharge L’Oréal’s Research & Innovation teams in creating eco-friendly formulations using renewable raw materials. In turn, this initiative is designed to reduce both energy and material waste.

Misc

Social media as it should be
The Strategist
Robin Berjon
Mathematician Cathy O’Neil once said that an algorithm is nothing more than someone’s opinion embedded in code. When we speak of the algorithms that power Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube or Google Search, we are really talking about choices made by their owners about what information we, as users, should see. In these cases, algorithm is just a fancy name for an editorial line. Each outlet has a process of sourcing, filtering and ranking information that is structurally identical to the editorial work carried out in media—except that it is largely automated.

To fight disinformation, treat it as organised crime
The Strategist
Meg Tapia
The Australian government’s regulatory approach to tackling disinformation misses the mark by focusing on content moderation and controlling access to platforms. This focus on symptoms is like fighting a flood by mopping the floor: it feels like you’re dealing with the immediate problem, but it ignores the root cause.

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