Japan, EU plan satellite network to cut US reliance | Nvidia CEO: China’s military unlikely to use US AI chips | France launches investigation into Musk’s X
Australian government not suspending ads or posts on X amid antisemitic Grok chatbot incident
Good morning. It's Monday, 14th of July.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
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Japan and the European Union look to develop an extensive communications satellite network, a draft agreement for the Japan-EU summit on July 23 shows, part of an effort to reduce reliance on US companies like SpaceX. Nikkei Asia
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the US government does not need to be concerned that the Chinese military will use his company’s products to improve their capabilities. South China Morning Post
French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into X over allegations that the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk manipulated its algorithms for the purposes of “foreign interference.” Politico
World
Japan and EU envision satellite network to cut reliance on US, SpaceX
Nikkei Asia
Takashi Tsuji
Japan and the European Union look to develop an extensive communications satellite network, a draft agreement for the Japan-EU summit on July 23 shows, part of an effort to reduce reliance on US companies like SpaceX. The two sides would create the network by launching and jointly operating small satellites. They are considering standardization and rulemaking for important technologies, as well as data sharing on climate change and natural disaster measures.
Researchers identify critical vulnerabilities in automotive Bluetooth systems
CyberScoop
Greg Otto
Cybersecurity researchers have identified four significant security vulnerabilities in a widely used automotive Bluetooth system that could potentially allow remote attackers to execute code on millions of vehicles worldwide. The vulnerabilities impact technology used in Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Skoda automobiles. A fourth manufacturer, which researchers have not publicly identified, is also confirmed to use the affected technology.
Australia
Australian government not suspending ads or posts on X amid antisemitic Grok chatbot incident
The Guardian
Josh Taylor
The Australian government has continued advertising on X after its AI chatbot Grok praised Hitler and made antisemitic comments, despite earlier pausing ads on the platform after Elon Musk’s takeover. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, among other federal politicians, has also continued posting on X, after launching a proposed plan to combat antisemitism in Australia this week.
India, Australia collaborate on critical minerals for renewable energy and climate action
The Strategist
Sutandra Singha
India and Australia are reinforcing their partnership on critical minerals to secure supply chains and enable the global transition to clean energy. This strategic collaboration recognises that lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements and similar resources are essential inputs for renewable technologies.
Husic urges digital crackdown on hate speech
The Australian Financial Review
Paul Karp
Former industry minister Ed Husic has urged the Albanese government to crack down on digital platforms by increasing penalties for failing to fact-check posts and remove hate speech. After the release of antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s report on Thursday, the Labor MP for Chifley urged a greater focus on the role of social media in hate speech including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
ATO tech spend review backlash over lack of detail
The Mandarin
Julian Bajkowski
A top-level review into the Australian Taxation Office’s annual billion-dollar spend on technology infrastructure outlays and contract costs demanded by Commissioner of Taxation Rob Heferen has revealed next to nothing, despite a six-month internal probe.
Chinese listening devices': Canberra's e-scooter battle gets nasty
Canberra Times
Steve Evans
The ACT government has been asked to look into whether the scooters run by one of the companies - Ario - are in fact "Chinese listening devices". The person who asked ACT transport minister Chris Steel to investigate Ario's alleged Chinese links said he did not want to be interviewed by The Canberra Times but said in an email: "I'm not involved with any e-scooter company". His concerns do, however, echo those being amplified quietly by people close to Neuron.
YouTube creators and eSafety commissioner at odds over whether to exclude platform from under-16 ban
The Guardian
Josh Taylor
Australia’s online safety regulator has released research underpinning her call to not exempt YouTube from the under-16s social media ban, with a survey revealing the platform is the most used by children under 16, and the place where children are most exposed to harmful content. It comes as Australian YouTubers push for the federal government to exclude the platform from the ban, after YouTube warned creators the ban could “affect how your work is valued and viewed”.
China
What are China’s ‘future industries’? And why they matter in the global tech race
South China Morning Post
Alice Li
As the dust barely settles on “Made in China 2025”, Beijing is intensifying its quest for technological supremacy with a focus on “future industries” amid its escalating rivalry with the United States. Authorities are pushing boundaries in their pursuit of a new growth model centered on technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrades.
Tech war: Stanford-educated expert leads China’s new semiconductor school with YMTC support
South China Morning Post
Coco Feng
Wuhan University has become the latest institution to join China’s push for self-reliance in semiconductors by establishing the School of Integrated Circuits, led by a scientist educated at Stanford University. On the same day, the school signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuhan-based Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation, China’s leading memory chip manufacturer.
USA
The great EV pullback has begun
The Verge
Andrew J. Hawkins
Every day seems to bring fresh news of a delayed EV or a timeline that’s been pushed back, as automakers struggle to adapt to this newly volatile environment. President Donald Trump’s tariffs aren’t helping much, nor is the recent passage of his $3.4 trillion “big, beautiful” budget bill, which takes a sledgehammer to most EV incentive programs. And Trump’s decision to reverse tougher emissions rules passed under former President Joe Biden is just icing on a pretty unappetizing cake.
Islamophobia surges online after Zohran Mamdani’s win
Time
Juwayriah Wright
Online Islamophobia spiked sharply in the immediate aftermath of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, new research has found. The 33 year old assembly member, a Muslim democratic socialist, defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo by 56% to 44% in the final round of ranked choice voting, marking a watershed moment for the Democratic establishment.
America is coming after Chinese it accuses of hacking
The Economist
For over a decade, America’s justice department has been indicting Chinese government hackers. Almost all of them have remained beyond the reach of the law. Now that is changing. On July 3rd Italian police in Milan arrested Xu Zewei, who is alleged to have worked on behalf of the Shanghai branch of the Ministry of State Security, China’s main spy agency. America wants to extradite him for wire fraud, identity theft and hacking.
Americas
Colombia identifies new threat in drug war: the autonomous narco drone sub
The Guardian
Harriet Barber
Last week, the Colombian navy announced that it had seized an “autonomous semisubmersible”, the first seizure of such a vessel in the country’s waters. Detected near Santa Marta, off Colombia’s Caribbean coast, the small grey vessel was equipped with antennas and a Starlink modem. Officials believe the uncrewed sub was on a trial run to transport cocaine to the United States or Europe.
Southeast Asia
Myanmar's proliferating scam centers
Nikkei Asia
The number of scam centers in eastern Myanmar is expanding at a rapid pace. Even after a large-scale crackdown in February, construction has continued -- underscoring that criminal hubs have not been eradicated. Nikkei analyzed satellite imagery and eyewitness testimony to reveal the scale and persistence of the crisis.
South & Central Asia
Bangladeshi rap, memes helped oust Hasina — now they’re reshaping politics
Al Jazeera
Masum Billah
As the country marks the anniversary of the uprising against Hasina, protest tools that played a key role in galvanising support against the former leader have become part of mainstream Bangladeshi politics. Rap, social media memes and graffiti are now also a part of the arsenal of young Bangladeshis looking to hold their new rulers accountable, just as they once helped uproot Hasina.
Ukraine - Russia
Ukraine’s Kyivstar CEO says Russian hackers target network often
Bloomberg
Volodymyr Verbianyi and Sarah Jacob
Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure is coming under constant cyberattacks from Russia as part of the war, according to the chief executive officer of the country’s largest mobile operator. “We see regular attempts, different types of attacks, aimed at destroying infrastructure,” Kyivstar PJSC’s Oleksandr Komarov said Friday in an interview at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.
Europe
France launches criminal investigation into Musk’s X over algorithm manipulation
POLITICO
Victor Goury-Laffont, Oceane Herrero, Joshua Berlinger and Eliza Gkritsi
French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into X over allegations that the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk manipulated its algorithms for the purposes of “foreign interference.” Magistrate Laure Beccuau said in a statement Friday that prosecutors had launched the probe on Wednesday and were looking into whether the social media giant broke French law by altering its algorithms and fraudulently extracting data from users.
Ireland launches second probe into TikTok data flows to China
POLITICO
Ellen O'Regan
Ireland's Data Protection Commission has launched a fresh inquiry into TikTok's transfers of personal data to Chinese servers, it said Thursday, following on from its investigation that led to a €530 million fine against the company in April. The Irish regulator in April was informed by TikTok of an issue that meant a limited amount of EU user data had been stored on servers in China, an issue it said it discovered in February.
Spain awards Huawei contracts to manage intelligence agency wiretaps
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
The Spanish government is using Huawei to manage and store judicially authorized wiretaps in the country used by both law enforcement and intelligence services, despite concerns about how the Chinese government could compel Huawei to assist Beijing with its own intelligence activities.
Victory for Trump as EU backs down on digital taxes in next budget
POLITICO
Gregorio Sorgi
The European Commission has dropped plans to levy a tax on digital companies, a move that hands victory to Donald Trump and US tech giants like Apple and Meta. With the EU and the US embroiled in the final stretch of negotiations over a trade deal, Brussels removed the digital tax option from its ― supposedly unrelated ― list of proposed taxes for bringing in revenue during its next seven-year spending program, according to a document circulated on Friday seen by POLITICO.
DeepSeek a threat to national security, warns Czech cyber agency
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
Czechia’s cybersecurity agency issued a formal warning this week detailing national security risks posed by the use of software provided by Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, prompting the government to ban its products from employees’ devices.
UK
Ofcom head says age checks are ‘really big moment’ for children’s online safety
The Guardian
Kiran Stacey
The UK’s chief media regulator has promised age verification checks will prove a “really big moment” in the battle to keep children safe online, even as campaigners warn she needs to take tougher action against big technology companies. Melanie Dawes, the head of Ofcom, said on Sunday that the new checks, which have to be in place later this month, would prove a turning point in regulating the behaviour of the world’s biggest online platforms.
Big Tech
Nvidia CEO Huang says China’s military unlikely to use US AI chips to improve capabilities
South China Morning Post
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the US government does not need to be concerned that the Chinese military will use his company’s products to improve their capabilities. Addressing the largest concern Washington has cited in placing increasing restrictions on US technology exports to the Asian nation, Huang said the Chinese military will avoid using US technology because of the risks associated with doing so.
Elon Musk’s xAI seeks up to $200bn valuation in next fundraising
Financial Times
Tabby Kinder, Stephen Morris, Ivan Levingston and James Fontanella-Khan
Elon Musk’s xAI is preparing to raise more money from investors in a deal that could value the artificial intelligence company as high as $200bn — 10 times its value early last year, according to people close to the talks. The fundraising, which is being discussed and could start formally as soon as next month, would be its third large share sale in less than two months.
SpaceX to Invest $2 Billion Into Elon Musk’s xAI
The Wall Street Journal
Berber Jin and Becky Peterson
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has agreed to invest $2 billion in his artificial-intelligence company xAI, investors close to the companies said, nearly half of the Grok chatbot maker’s recent equity raise. The SpaceX investment is part of xAI’s $5 billion equity fundraise announced by Morgan Stanley last month. It is the rocketmaker’s first known investment into xAI and one of its largest in another company.
Microsoft investors prod company over work with Israeli military
Bloomberg
Matt Day
A group of Microsoft investors is pressuring the company to assess how effectively it identifies customers who misuse its artificial intelligence tools, a push that follows reports detailing the Israeli military’s use of Microsoft software during its war in Gaza.
Amazon weighs further investment in Anthropic to deepen AI alliance
Financial Times
Rafe Uddin, Cristina Criddle and George Hammond
Amazon is weighing another multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic to deepen a strategic alliance that the tech companies believe will provide an edge in the global competition to profit from artificial intelligence. The Seattle-based cloud and ecommerce group has discussed plans to extend beyond the $8bn it has already ploughed into the San Francisco-based AI model builder, according to multiple people with knowledge of the talks.
Artificial Intelligence
xAI apologized for Grok's 'horrific' rant, and blamed the chatbot's new instructions and 'extremist' X user posts
Business Insider
Robert Scammell
xAI has apologized for Grok's "horrific behavior" and said that new instructions caused the AI chatbot to prioritize engagement, even if that meant reflecting "extremist views" from user posts on X. Elon Musk's AI company said in a Saturday X post, using the official Grok account, that it had removed the "deprecated" code and "refactored the entire system to prevent further abuse."
Musk’s latest Grok chatbot searches for billionaire mogul’s views before answering questions
Associated Press
Matt O'Brien
The latest version of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is echoing the views of its billionaire creator, so much so that it will sometimes search online for Musk’s stance on an issue before offering up an opinion. The unusual behavior of Grok 4, the AI model that Musk’s company xAI released late Wednesday, has surprised some experts.
Robot surgery on humans could be trialled within decade after success on pig organs
The Guardian
Ang Hwee Min
Automated surgery could be trialled on humans within a decade, say researchers, after an AI-trained robot armed with tools to cut, clip and grab soft tissue successfully removed pig gall bladders without human help. In an apparent research breakthrough, eight operations were conducted on pig organs with a 100% success rate by a team led by experts at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the US.
NUS researchers tried to influence AI-generated peer reviews by hiding prompt in paper
Channel News Asia
A team of National University of Singapore researchers attempted to sway peer reviews generated by artificial intelligence by hiding a prompt in a paper they submitted. The research paper has since been withdrawn from peer review and the online version, published on academic research platform Arxiv, has been corrected, said NUS in a statement on Thursday July 10.
The UN made AI-generated refugees
404 Media
Matthew Gault
I am talking to Amina, an AI avatar that plays the role of a woman living in a refugee camp in Chad after she escaped violence in Sudan. Amina is an experiment, part of a pair of AI avatars created by the United Nations University Center for Policy Research. It’s one that is sure to be controversial, considering that the UN itself says a major problem facing refugees is their dehumanization for political gain or convenience. The UNU-CPR project is using an inhuman technology in an attempt to help people learn more about what they are facing.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue 2025
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is pleased to announce the Sydney Dialogue, the world’s premier policy summit for critical, emerging and cyber technologies, will return on 4-5 December. Now in its fourth year, the dialogue attracts the world’s top thinkers, innovators and policymakers, and focusses on the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology and security. TSD has become the place where new partnerships are built among governments, industry and civil society, and where existing partnerships are deepened.
Disinformation & misinformation: current happenings in Japan, the US and beyond
Temple University
Misinformation, disinformation, and emerging forms of AI-generated pseudo-information are increasingly disrupting the global information landscape. These phenomena pose serious challenges for individuals and institutions attempting to discern what is accurate, trustworthy, and reliable. The session will examine cross-national trends, particularly in Japan and the United States, and discuss potential tools, procedures, and policy responses for mitigating the spread and impact of false and deceptive information. Join on Monday, July 14 at 7:30-9:00pm AEST.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
