Microsoft and Google AI deals get EU antitrust scrutiny | U.S. and Japan face disconnect over further China chip controls | Network of pro-Russian Facebook pages interfering in UK election
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The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
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Microsoft's partnership with artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI and Google's move to install its AI service on Samsung phones are both getting European Union antitrust scrutiny, the bloc's competition chief said. POLITICO
The U.S., Japan and South Korea have agreed to work together to strengthen their supply chains for critical goods, including high-tech chips, but stopped short of tightening trade curbs against China despite Washington's efforts. Nikkei Asia
Revelations of foreign interference in the UK election, uncovered by the ABC, have been described as "highly alarming" by the Conservative Party, which will be writing to the Cabinet Office seeking urgent advice about how to combat it. ABC News
World
Revealed: the tech entrepreneur behind a pro-Israel hate network
The Guardian
Jason Wilson
A prime mover behind the Shirion Collective, a conspiracy-minded, pro-Israel disinformation network seeking to shape public opinion about the Gaza conflict in the US, Australia and the UK, is a tech entrepreneur named Daniel Linden living in Florida who co-wrote a guidebook for OnlyFans users, the Guardian can reveal. Shirion has harassed pro-Palestinian activists, including many Jews, offered bounties for the identity of pro-Palestinian protesters, spread conspiracy narratives centered on figures like George Soros, and boasted of an AI-surveillance platform but offered few concrete details of how the technology functions.
U.S., Japan, Philippines join to battle disinformation
Nikkei Asia
Kana Baba
The U.S., Japan and the Philippines will soon launch discussions among experts to share expertise on how to combat disinformation, including fake news spread online by actors linked to China and Russia. Confronting disinformation has become a common challenge in the global diplomatic community. In addition to communicating accurate information, Japan will work with like-minded nations to combat the problem. The three nations are all grappling with disinformation campaigns linked to China and Russia.
Australia
Meta threatens Australian news ban in media bargaining war
The Australian Financial Review
Tess Bennett
Meta is considering blocking news on its Australian platforms and stopping local users from sharing links to news articles if the government forces the social media giant to pay news organisations for their content. The move is an escalation in the dispute between Meta and the government and local media companies, sparked after Meta announced in March it would not renew its existing deals with news organisations negotiated in 2021.
Government won’t be ‘held ransom’ by Meta and ‘disregard’ for Australian laws, values
The Australian
Alexi Demetriadi
The Albanese government has declared it will not be “held ransom” by Meta after it threatened to pull news content from its platforms, blasting the tech giant for having blatant “disregard” for Australian laws and values. It comes amid an escalation of the standoff between the government and Meta over the latter’s abandonment of its Australian-based deals under the news media bargaining code, and an inability to accept its “social responsibility” to minimise harm to young people on its platforms.
PM slams ‘arrogant’ social media giants over child safety
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mike Foley
The prime minister has accused “arrogant” social media companies of ignoring parents’ legitimate concerns for their children, who he said are suffering widespread distress due to the use of online platforms such as Facebook and TikTok. Anthony Albanese’s remarks on Saturday follow the claims made by social media company Meta in a parliamentary hearing on Friday, when the company claimed social media provides “tremendous benefits” to children.
Social media ‘pivotal’ in platforming terrorism after terror accused radicalised on Telegram
The Australian
Alexi Demetriadi
Telegram has failed to clear horrific terror attack footage and extremist material from its platform months after the eSafety watchdog demanded answers as Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil accused social media giants of playing a “pivotal role” in platforming terrorism. Earlier this year, Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, issued Telegram, along with five other companies, a notice asking how it was taking action against terror material.
China
China begins smartphone inspections as part of espionage law
Nikkei Asia
Yukio Tajima
Chinese national security authorities will have greater power to inspect smartphones and other electronic devices beginning Monday, one year after a stronger anti-espionage law took effect, raising fears that foreigners will face such inspections upon entering the country. National security authorities now are permitted to inspect baggage and electronic devices simply on suspicion of espionage.
Chinese scientists create robot with brain made from human stem cells
South China Morning Post
Victoria Bela
Chinese scientists have developed a robot with a lab-grown artificial brain that can be taught to perform various tasks. The brain-on-chip technology developed by researchers at Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology combines a brain organoid – a tissue derived from human stem cells – with a neural interface chip to power the robot and teach it to avoid obstacles and grip objects. The technology is an emerging branch of brain-computer interfaces, which aims to combine the brain’s electrical signals with external computing power and which China has made a priority.
Precious rare earth metals belong to the state, China declares
POLITICO
Gabriel Gavin
The Chinese government has introduced a slew of new measures designed to tighten its grip on lucrative natural resources used in everything from electric cars to wind turbines. Beijing’s hold on the coveted resources has long been seen as a threat to Western clean power and tech supply chains. Fears that China is looking to exert control over the industry, and could disrupt critical technology, automotive and renewable energy supply chains, have sparked a race to shore up supplies from alternative suppliers.
OpenAI cuts its last and most important link to China
Rest of World
Russell Brandom
On July 9, developers in China will lose API access to all OpenAI platforms, the final step in a slow process of cutting off the country’s access to U.S.-based machine learning tools. Consumer-facing applications like ChatGPT have been unavailable in China more or less from the beginning. But the API is more important than the consumer-facing applications, powering apps to fill out forms, flag problems in internal data, or manage other kinds of automation at scale.
USA
Crypto to see tighter tax rules starting in 2026
The Wall Street Journal
Paul Kiernan
The Biden administration took a long-delayed step against tax evasion in cryptocurrency markets, though it left some work unfinished amid fierce lobbying by companies like Coinbase. The Treasury Department adopted a final rule Friday requiring many cryptocurrency platforms to report information about their users’ transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. Officials say the measure should deter tax evasion by making it clear to would-be miscreants that the IRS knows how much they owe.
Inside a violent gang's ruthless crypto-stealing home invasion spree
WIRED
Andy Greenberg & Matt Giles
Cryptocurrency has always made a ripe target for theft—and not just hacking, but the old-fashioned, up-close-and-personal kind, too. Given that it can be irreversibly transferred in seconds with little more than a password, it's perhaps no surprise that thieves have occasionally sought to steal crypto in home-invasion burglaries and even kidnappings.
America falters in fighting the information war
Axios
Colin Demarest
Americans are unknowingly being bombarded with media manipulated by China, Russia and Iran, despite U.S. efforts to stem the tide, according to an analysis first shared with Axios. The new report published by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, whose experts include former military members and senior government advisers, examines how authoritarian regimes have for years swayed thinking at home and abroad.
North Asia
U.S. and Japan face disconnect over further China chip controls
Nikkei Asia
Shunsuke Ushigome
The U.S., Japan and South Korea have agreed to work together to strengthen their supply chains for critical goods, including high-tech chips, but stopped short of tightening trade curbs against China despite Washington's efforts. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul agreed to focus on supply chain reliability and sustainability, not just low prices, in the support they provide to their respective semiconductor industries. But the statement mentioned nothing about the tougher export restrictions that the U.S. had pushed for behind the scenes.
Japan's auto industry has an AI chip problem, says self-driving startup
Nikkei Asia
Ryohtaroh Satoh
The Japanese auto industry is facing higher costs and potentially less design freedom as artificial intelligence chips become more expensive and reliance on overseas companies like Nvidia grows, said the semiconductor development chief of Turing, a Tokyo-based self-driving startup.
Southeast Asia
Indonesia arrests over 100 foreigners in Bali suspected of participating in cybercrime
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Indonesian immigration authorities raided a villa on the resort island of Bali and arrested over a hundred foreign nationals suspected of committing cybercrimes. A video shared by local law enforcement on Friday showed dozens of prisoners lying on the ground next to the three-story villa with their hands behind their heads. Law enforcement also seized several computers and mobile phones, which were reportedly used to commit cybercrimes.
Ukraine - Russia
Russia wants to confront NATO but dares not fight it on the battlefield – so it’s waging a hybrid war instead
CNN
Ivana Kottasová
Multiple hacking attacks and spying incidents have been reported in different European countries. The seemingly random attacks have one thing in common: according to local officials, they are all linked to Russia. And while they might look minor in isolation, taken together these incidents amount to what security experts say is Russia’s hybrid war on the West.
Europe
Microsoft and Google AI deals get EU antitrust scrutiny, Vestager says
POLITICO
Aoife White
Microsoft's partnership with artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI and Google's move to install its AI service on Samsung phones are both getting European Union antitrust scrutiny, the bloc's competition chief said. The Commission is worried about how Big Tech firms could use their power to build AI tools and roll them out across their ecosystems.
Brussels explores antitrust probe into Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI
Financial Times
Javier Espinoza & Tim Bradshaw
Brussels is preparing for an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s $13bn investment into OpenAI, after the EU decided not to proceed with a merger review into the most powerful alliance in the artificial intelligence industry. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, began to explore a review under merger control rules in January, but on Friday announced that it would not proceed due to a lack of evidence that Microsoft controls OpenAI.
EU Commission demands information from Temu and Shein on illegal products, user protections
EURACTIV
Julia Tar
The European Commission formally requested information on Friday 28 June from online marketplaces Temu and Shein on measures taken to comply with online safety regulation Digital Services Act. The Commission is asking for information on the platforms’ mechanisms through which users can flag illegal products, online interfaces which should not manipulate users, as well as minors protection, transparency of recommender systems, traceability of sellers, and compliance by design, according to its press release.
Polish Parliament strips official of immunity, clearing path for prosecution in spyware scandal
The Record by Recorded Future
Suzanne Smalley
The Polish parliament on Friday voted to lift an opposition leader’s legal immunity in order to prosecute him for the part he allegedly played in buying powerful commercial spyware when he was a leader in the former ruling majority.
UK
Tories 'highly alarmed' by network of pro-Russian Facebook pages interfering in UK election
ABC News
Michael Workman & Kevin Nguyen
Revelations of foreign interference in the UK election, uncovered by the ABC, have been described as "highly alarming" by the Conservative Party, which will be writing to the Cabinet Office seeking urgent advice about how to combat it. Ahead of the UK elections, the ABC has been monitoring five coordinated Facebook pages which have been spreading Kremlin talking points, with some posting in support of Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party — a key challenger to the Conservatives in the July 4 poll.
Labour plans to force tech giants to compensate online fraud victims
Financial Times
Akila Quinio & George Parker
Labour has drafted plans to make tech companies liable to reimburse victims of online fraud, in a departure from controversial rules that place the burden on banks and have sparked a backlash from the financial sector. The document outlined a proposal under which banks would still have to refund fraud victims but could later recoup some money from tech companies.
Middle East
Israel Police deploying Chinese traffic cameras blacklisted by US
The Jerusalem Post
Assaf Gilead
Israel Police is deploying Chinese-made license plate recognition cameras as part of its "Hawk-Eye" traffic enforcement project, which do not comply with required standards in Western countries like the US and Netherlands. The police are also making use of cameras from Chinese company HikVision. These two companies have been removed from the national infrastructures of several Western countries in recent years.
Big Tech
Meta created a ‘Supreme Court’ for content. Then it threatened its funds.
The Washington Post
Naomi Nix
Once hailed as a model for internet governance, Meta’s Oversight Board has been criticised as slow-moving and increasingly irrelevant. Last summer, the situation was dire for Meta’s Oversight Board, an experimental court of journalists, analysts and experts empowered to investigate Meta’s handling of controversial posts. Meta, its sole funder, had privately threatened to pull back support, pushing the board to cut costs or seek new sources of revenue.
Shopping app Temu is “dangerous malware,” spying on your texts, lawsuit claims
ArsTechnica
Ashley Belanger
Temu—the Chinese shopping app that has rapidly grown so popular in the US that even Amazon is reportedly trying to copy it—is "dangerous malware" that's secretly monetising a broad swath of unauthorised user data, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Griffin cited research and media reports exposing Temu's allegedly nefarious design, which "purposely" allows Temu to "gain unrestricted access to a user's phone operating system, including, but not limited to, a user's camera, specific location, contacts, text messages, documents, and other applications."
AI drive brings Microsoft’s ‘green moonshot’ down to earth in west London
The Guardian
Dan Milmo & Alex Hern
The company’s Park Royal datacentre is part of its commitment to drive the expansion of artificial intelligence, but that ambition is jarring with its target of being carbon negative by 2030. Microsoft says the centre will be run fully on renewable energy. However, the construction of datacentres and the servers they are filled with means that the company’s scope 3 emissions are more than 30% above their 2020 level.
Artificial Intelligence
Financial services shun AI over job and regulatory fears
Financial Times
Cristina Criddle & Akila Quinio
Financial services are failing to implement artificial intelligence successfully, European fintech executives have claimed, even as evidence mounts that the hyped technology will boost productivity and cut costs. Job loss fears, regulatory concerns and institutional inertia are among the factors deterring bankers from fully embracing the systems that underpin products such as ChatGPT.
Morgan Freeman slams unauthorised AI imitations, calling for 'authenticity and integrity'
ABC News
Tessa Flemming
Actor Morgan Freeman has called out unauthorised artificial intelligence imitations of himself, becoming the latest Hollywood star to criticise the technology. Freeman, whose recognisable baritone has become a staple of his persona, slammed the AI imitations on social media platform X. In early June, CEO of Freeman's production company Revelations Lori McCreary told Deadline she had been fooled by an AI deepfake of the Shawshank Redemption star.
Cheap AI voice clones may wipe out jobs of 5,000 Australian actors
The Guardian
Josh Taylor
Voice actors say they’re on the precipice of their work being replaced completely by artificial intelligence, with corporate and radio roles already beginning to be replaced by cheap generative AI clones. The Australian Association of Voice Actors told a parliamentary committee investigating AI the jobs of an estimated 5,000 local voice actors are already in danger, with the group pointing to one national radio network actively investing in technology to replace human voice actors.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue
ASPI
The Sydney Dialogue was created to help bring together governments, businesses and civil society to discuss and progress policy options. We will forecast the technologies of the next decade that will change our societies, economies and national security, prioritising speakers and delegates who are willing to push the envelope. We will promote diverse views that stimulate real conversations about the best ways to seize opportunities and minimise risks.
Tech supply chains, hybrid threats and a more divided world with Elisabeth Braw
Miah Hammond-Errey
This discussion explores the decline in globalisation and an increasingly divided world with the West on one side and China and Russia on another. It highlights the impacts of geopolitical rifts on technology, innovation, business, supply chain vulnerabilities and complexities, subsea cables and infrastructure as well as consumer prices and job market changes. They also discuss the tech sector, the role of technology in warfare, and the implications of foreign investments in critical infrastructure as well as hybrid threats, information operations and resilience and national security responses.
Stop the World: Russia, North Korea and nuclear threats with Bee Yun Jo and Peter Tesch
ASPI
In this episode, the conversation is all about North Korea, Russia, China and nuclear threats. Alex Bristow speaks to former Australian diplomat and defence official, Peter Tesch, and Dr Bee Yun Jo, Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Security and Strategy at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. They consider the increased alignment and cooperation between Russia and China, and between Russia and North Korea as seen through Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Pyongyang. They also discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, the risks of further escalation by Moscow, and how the West should respond.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.