Beijing's online influence on the Indian border | Bolivia announces major lithium plant deal with China | TikTok CEO summoned to EU Parliament over Romanian election
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As part of a joint investigation with Taiwanese think tank Doublethink Lab for its 2024 Foreign Influence on India’s Election Observation Project, we identified coordinated social media campaigns seeking to amplify social tensions in Manipur and criticise the Indian government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party and its policies. This occurred in the lead-up to and during the Indian general elections, when social divisions were especially heightened. The ASPI Strategist
Bolivia said Tuesday it had signed a $1 billion deal with China's CBC, a subsidiary of the world's largest lithium battery producer CATL, to build two lithium carbonate production plants in the country's southwest. France24
A top EU lawmaker is demanding that TikTok's chief executive appear before the European Parliament to answer questions about the platform's role in Sunday's Romanian presidential election, as researchers warn of covert activity on thousands of fake accounts leading up to the vote. POLITICO
ASPI
Beijing’s online influence operations along the India–China border
The Strategist
Nishit Kumar, Elena Yi-Ching Ho and Albert Zhang
As part of a joint investigation with Taiwanese think tank Doublethink Lab for its 2024 Foreign Influence on India’s Election Observation Project, we identified coordinated social media campaigns seeking to amplify social tensions in Manipur and criticise the Indian government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party and its policies. This occurred in the lead-up to and during the Indian general elections, when social divisions were especially heightened.
As China tries harder to collect data, we must try harder to protect data
The Strategist
Brendan Walker-Munro
China is stepping up efforts to force foreign companies to hand over valuable data while strengthening its own defences. Some of the information it’s looking for would give it greater opportunities for espionage or political interference in other countries.
Australia
Australia’s social media ban for kids is closer to becoming law
Associated Press
Rod Mcguirk
Australia’s House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 years old from social media, leaving it to the Senate to finalize the world-first law. The major parties backed the bill that would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.
ABC chair Kim Williams says investment in national broadcaster the best counter to 'flood' of misinformation
ABC News
Jake Evans
The ABC's chair, Kim Williams, has warned Australia is being "flooded" with misinformation and disinformation, just days after the federal government abandoned a bill to force social media giants to tackle harmful content on their platforms.
China
China is bombarding tech talent with job offers. The West is freaking out
The Wall Street Journal
Bertrand Benoit, Liza Lin, Heather Somerville and Kim Mackrael
Staff with access to sensitive Zeiss know-how received LinkedIn messages, emails and calls from Huawei representatives, offering them up to three times their salaries to join the Chinese company, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The push triggered an investigation by German intelligence officials, who feared it could provide a back door for Huawei to access some of the world’s most sophisticated intellectual property.
Microsoft, HP and Dell ramp up China parts output before Trump's return
Nikkei Asia
Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li
Microsoft, HP and Dell are rushing to prepare as many electronics components as possible before January in expectation that Donald Trump will hike tariffs on Chinese goods when he returns to the White House. Microsoft has been asking suppliers to ready more components for its cloud server infrastructure from November through December, mainly to avoid the expected tariffs, people with knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia.
USA
How Trump’s team may clash on China
POLITICO
Phelim Kine
Today we look at possible discord in the China policy of the incoming Trump administration, examine Taiwan’s efforts to prepare for Trump and parse how the president-elect’s latest China tariff threat may affect counternarcotics cooperation.
Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say
Reuters
Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing
The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor's alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Americas
Bolivia announces $1 bn deal with China to build lithium plants
France 24
Bolivia said Tuesday it had signed a $1 billion deal with China's CBC, a subsidiary of the world's largest lithium battery producer CATL, to build two lithium carbonate production plants in the country's southwest.
North Asia
Japan, South Korea struggle to reduce reliance on China tech materials
Nikkei Asia
Akane Okutsu and Kim Jaewon
The Tokyo-based company is looking to build a plant in Kyushu, the same region where chip titan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is building its first Japanese factory, to process fluorspar into anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. The idea is to meet as much as 40% of Japan's annual demand for the key chipmaking chemical, slashing the country's dependence on China for the chemical and its key ingredients.
South Korea to roll out $10 bln in loans next year to support chip industry
Reuters
Heekyong Yang
South Korea plans to roll out 14 trillion won ($10 billion) of low-interest loans next year to support its chip industry, the finance ministry said, as the sector grapples with Chinese competition and uncertainties over a new U.S. administration.
NZ & Pacific Islands
The Pacific disinformation playbook
The Lowy Interpreter
Meg Tapia
While Europe has moved towards regulatory frameworks focusing on behavioural patterns and social media platform accountability, the Pacific region is largely focused on hyper-local resilience building. That disinformation is a problem in paradise might come as a surprise to many. But the reality is that disinformation is just as prevalent across the Pacific as elsewhere in the world.
Ukraine-Russia
Russia-aligned RomCom hackers exploited Firefox and Windows zero-days
The Record by Recorded Future
Russia-linked hackers exploited two zero-day vulnerabilities in Mozilla and Microsoft products to target victims in Europe and North America, researchers have found. RomCom, also tracked as Storm-0978, is known for targeting defense and government entities around the world. It engages in both ransomware and espionage activities and is attributed to Russian-speaking threat actors. The group derives its name from the custom malware it has been using since at least 2022.
Europe
TikTok CEO summoned to European Parliament over role in shock Romania election
POLITICO
Nicholas Vinocur and Pieter Haeck
A top EU lawmaker is demanding that TikTok's chief executive appear before the European Parliament to answer questions about the platform's role in Sunday's Romanian presidential election, as researchers warn of covert activity on thousands of fake accounts leading up to the vote.
Romanian 'TikTok Messiah' presidential candidate embodies hybrid war with West, say experts
Euronews
David O'Sullivan
Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu has millions of likes on TikTok and hundreds of thousands of followers. He ran a successful social media campaign to emerge victorious in the first round of the country's presidential elections.
France doubles down on age minimum of 15 for social media use
POLITICO
Pieter Haeck
The French government has renewed its push to keep teens off social media before they turn 15. Paris already has a national bill that prevents users under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, but is making a pitch to fellow European Union member countries to come up with a bloc-wide solution. The French government has urged Poland, which will take up the rotating Council of the EU presidency in January, to take action on the matter.
UK
Incident response diplomacy: UK to launch new capability to help attacked allies
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
The British government will launch a new Cyber Incident Response Capability (CIRC) to offer assistance to partner countries dealing with cyberattacks. The CIRC will be available to NATO allies through the alliance’s virtual cyber incident support capability — launched in the wake of the Iranian cyberattacks on Albania — as well as other non-NATO countries.
Africa
African cybercrime crackdown culminates in 1,006 captured and cuffed
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
More than a thousand suspected cybercriminals were arrested across 19 African countries in recent months thanks to an operation helmed by Interpol and Afripol. Operation Serengeti ran over September and October, targeting criminal capers from ransomware through to business email compromise (BEC) and other online offenses linked to more than $190 million in global losses. The arrests are “just the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to organized cybercrime, according to Valdecy Urquiza, the secretary general of Interpol.
Big Tech
Google 'rigged the rules' and illegally dominated online advertising market, says US Justice Department
ABC News
n the closing arguments of a second antitrust trial against Google, the US Justice Department says "Google rigged the rules of the road" and created a monopoly over the online ad market. Google says "the law simply does not support" the arguments presented and asked the judge to disregard the claims made by the DOJ.
Events & Podcasts
Urban warfare in Ukraine and Gaza with John Spencer
ASPI’s Stop the World
John Spencer and Alex Bristow
In this episode of Stop the World, ASPI Senior Analyst Alex Bristow interviews John Spencer, the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. Alex and John discuss urban warfare in the context of the conflict in Ukraine and Gaza, asymmetric capabilities and the impact of technology on warfare.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.