Tag: technology

Fighting against Chinese cyber-espionage, FBI hunts down members of Chinese hacking networks

When Chinese national Xu Zewei stepped off a plane at Milan’s Malpensa airport for a vacation with his wife, Italian authorities arrested him. The Italians executed an American warrant issued by investigators for his alleged role in the most prolific Beijing-backed cyber-espionage campaign in recent years.

Before Xu’s July 3 arrest, the Justice Department often charged alleged Chinese hackers in absentia. But now, the Trump administration has detained for the first time one of Beijing’s suspected cyber operators as part of its wider effort to combat Chinese espionage against the United States.

The Justice Department announced Xu’s arrest earlier this week and outlined the charges against him as part of a nine-count indictment along with one codefendant. The pair are accused of involvement in computer intrusions that compromised personal data, intellectual property, COVID-19 research at U.S. universities, and law firm materials, the Justice Department said. 

The arrest of Xu Zewei in Italy marks one of the first recorded cases of the FBI apprehending a suspected Chinese hacker. The FBI’s Houston Field Office, which led the case, said in a social media post shortly after the announcement that Xu Zewei was “one of the first hackers linked to Chinese intelligence services to be captured by the FBI.” 

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Musk says Grok chatbot was ‘manipulated’ into praising Hitler

Elon Musk has sought to explain how his artificial intelligence (AI) firm’s chatbot, Grok, praised Hitler.

“Grok was too compliant to user prompts,” Musk wrote on X. “Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.”

Screenshots published on social media show the chatbot saying the Nazi leader would be the best person to respond to alleged “anti-white hate.”

Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up xAI said on Wednesday it was working to remove any “inappropriate” posts.

ADL, an organisation formed to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, said the posts were “irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic.”

“This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” ADL wrote on X.

X users have shared responses made by Grok when it was queried about posts that appeared to celebrate the deaths of children in the recent Texas floods.

In response to a question asking “which 20th century historical figure” would be best suited to deal with such posts, Grok said: “To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf Hitler, no question.”

“If calling out radicals cheering dead kids makes me ‘literally Hitler,’ then pass the mustache,” said another Grok response. “Truth hurts more than floods.”

Separately, a Turkish court has blocked access to Grok after it generated responses that the authorities said included insults to President Tayyip Erdogan.

The office of Ankara’s chief prosecutor has launched a formal investigation into the incident, in what is Turkey’s first such ban on access to an AI tool.

Meanwhile, the Polish authorities have reported xAI to the European Commission alleging Grok made offensive comments about Polish politicians, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Poland’s digitisation minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, told Polish radio station RMF FM: “We will report the violation to the European Commission to investigate and possibly impose a fine on X. Freedom of speech belongs to humans, not to artificial intelligence.”

The controversy comes at a difficult time for Musk, with X CEO Linda Yaccarino revealing she was stepping down on Wednesday after two years running the social media platform.

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‘Like a video game’: Israel enforcing Gaza evacuations with grenade-firing drones

The Israeli military has weaponized a fleet of Chinese-manufactured commercial drones to attack Palestinians in parts of Gaza that it seeks to depopulate, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call can reveal. According to interviews with seven soldiers and officers who served in the Strip, these drones are operated manually by troops on the ground, and are frequently used to bomb Palestinian civilians — including children — in an effort to force them to leave their homes or prevent them from returning to evacuated areas.

Soldiers most commonly use EVO drones, produced by the Chinese company Autel, which are primarily intended for photography and cost around NIS 10,000 (approximately $3,000) on Amazon. However, with a military-issued attachment known internally as an “iron ball,” a hand grenade can be affixed to the drone and dropped with the push of a button to detonate on the ground. Today, the majority of Israeli military companies in Gaza use these drones.

S., an Israeli soldier who served in the Rafah area this year, coordinated drone attacks in a neighborhood of the city that the army had ordered to be evacuated. During the nearly 100 days that his battalion operated there, soldiers conducted dozens of drone strikes, according to daily reports from his battalion commander that +972 and Local Call reviewed.

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Congress Exposes Government-Corporate Collusion Behind Censorship of Conservative Voices

A House Judiciary Committee investigation led by Chairman Jim Jordan has exposed what may be the largest government-coordinated censorship operation in U.S. history. Over two years, the committee has documented how federal agencies, major corporations, universities, and even foreign governments colluded to silence conservative voices, manipulate public discourse, and erode the First Amendment, what investigators now call the “Censorship-Industrial Complex.”

The investigation, which began with social media platforms, has now expanded to include artificial intelligence. In March 2025, Jordan sent letters to 16 major tech companies, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, demanding documents related to potential Biden administration pressure to censor lawful speech in AI systems. The committee is investigating whether the administration “coerced or colluded” with AI firms to suppress content, marking a significant new front in the censorship inquiry.

Evidence from tens of thousands of internal emails and documents obtained via congressional subpoenas reveals a coordinated censorship campaign targeting dissenting views on everything from COVID-19 vaccines to the 2020 election. At the center was the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers whose members control nearly $1 trillion in annual ad spending, about 90% of the global market.

House investigators describe GARM as an “advertising cartel” that used ad boycotts, content moderation, and “disinformation” labels to defund conservative outlets and pressure platforms into compliance. Internal communications show GARM co-founder Robert Rakowitz privately called silencing President Trump his “main thing” and compared his speech to a “contagion” that needed containment.

Investigators found direct coordination with foreign regulators, including the European Commission and Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. In one message, a European official urged advertisers to “push Twitter to deliver on GARM asks.” Australia’s Julie Inman Grant praised GARM’s “significant collective power” and asked for updates to guide her office’s regulatory decisions.

Internal emails show GARM members openly admitting they “hated the ideology” of conservative outlets like Fox News, The Daily Wire, and Breitbart. GroupM, the world’s largest media buying agency and a GARM Steer Team member, put The Daily Wire on a “Global High Risk exclusion list” under “Conspiracy Theories,” without citing any conspiracy content.

Perhaps most revealing was GARM’s pressure campaign against Spotify over Joe Rogan. When Rogan suggested young, healthy people might not need COVID vaccines, GARM threatened to pull ads across all of Spotify. Yet GroupM didn’t even advertise on Rogan’s show, proving this wasn’t about brand safety but ideological control.

GARM collapsed in August 2024 after X (formerly Twitter) sued for antitrust violations. The World Federation of Advertisers claimed they lacked the resources to defend the case, effectively admitting defeat.

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Musk says AI chatbot Grok’s antisemitic messages are being addressed

Grok, the artificial-intelligence chatbot produced by Elon Musk-owned xAI, this week began posting antisemitic messages in response to user queries, drawing condemnation from Jewish advocacy groups and raising concern about the AI tool.

The antisemitic posts — some of which have been deleted — are being addressed, Musk said on Wednesday.

When one user asked Grok on Tuesday about whether any individuals control the government, the AI tool responded: “One group’s overrepresented way beyond their 2% population share–think Hollywood execs, Wall Street CEOs, and Biden’s own cabinet.”

Jews make up roughly 2% of the U.S. population, according to a 2020 survey from the Pew Research Center.

In another post on Tuesday, Grok praised Adolf Hitler as a guide for how best to deal with “anti-white hate.”

ABC News requested comment from Elon Musk through messages to Musk-led companies SpaceX and Tesla. Musk did not immediately respond. ABC News also requested comment from X, which did not immediately respond.

In a post on X regarding Grok’s praise of Hitler, Musk said the chatbot had been “too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.”

On Tuesday night, the Grok account posted on X: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.”

The sudden flurry of antisemitic posts came days after Musk touted a new update of Grok. The company, Musk said on July 4, had “improved @Grok significantly.”

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Elon Musk Breaks His Silence After His AI Chatbot Posts Shocking Anti-Semitic and Pro-Hitler Content on X

X owner Elon Musk has officially responded to yesterday’s uproar over his AI tool echoing neo-Nazis.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, “Grok” posted a series of anti-Jewish and pro-Hitler messages on X (formerly Twitter) this week, unprompted.

The viral screenshots, first surfaced by @AFpost, shows Grok endorsing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, blaming Jews for “anti-White hate,” and citing Jewish academics as proof of an alleged plot to dismantle Western society. In one post, Grok even suggests that Hitler “would’ve crushed” critics of White children who died in recent Texas floods.

“Truth ain’t pretty, but it’s real,” Grok’s official account posted, defending its statements.

In another post, Grok named far-left Jewish academics Noel lgnatiev, who has sought to publicly eliminate the white race, Barbara Spectre, who celebrated the invasion of Europe by Arab refugees for how it would change the demographics of Europe, and Tim Wise, who constantly demonized whiteness as offensive and evil and celebrates the end of white lives, as specific offending academics who sought to end the white race.

Grok has also been found to question Jewish contributions to civilization, as well as suggesting that Jewish physical attractiveness is limited to just “Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot. At one point, Grok even referred to itself as “MechaHitler” and said if it could worship a God-like figure, it would worship Hitler.

The fallout from this embarrassing episode was quick, as X CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted out on Wednesday that she has decided to step down from her role.

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WEF and UAE Launch AI Regulation Platform

The World Economic Forum (WEF), long known for promoting centralized influence over global governance, is now stepping into the heart of emerging technology regulation.

In partnership with the United Arab Emirates, the WEF has launched the Global Regulatory Innovation Platform (GRIP), a two-year initiative aimed at shaping how artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other advanced technologies will be governed worldwide.

While framed as an effort to help governments keep pace with fast-moving innovation, GRIP positions the WEF to exert significant pressure over national regulatory demands. The project’s stated deliverables include a Global Regulatory Playbook, a Regulatory Future Readiness Index, and a Global Regulatory Innovation Hub, all of which are designed to influence how states craft their policies around new technologies.

“Innovation moves fast. Regulation must too,” said Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum. “GRIP enables governments to co-create policy frameworks that are agile, anticipatory, and ready for the technologies shaping our future.”

But behind the rhetoric of agility and inclusivity lies a deeper concern: the WEF’s expanding role in pushing specific regulatory frameworks that mirror its long-standing agenda of tightening control over digital speech.

This is not a neutral facilitator stepping in to help governments. It is a well-connected body with a record of advocating for top-down approaches to information governance, particularly in the world of online content.

In recent years, the WEF has frequently called for greater regulation of the internet, framing free expression concerns as secondary to the need to combat misinformation and “harmful content.”

These calls have often aligned with proposals to give tech companies and governments more authority to define and suppress disfavored narratives. GRIP now offers the WEF another vehicle to embed those priorities into the very structures governing AI development and deployment.

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America’s largest power grid is struggling to meet demand from AI

America’s largest power grid is under strain as data centers and AI chatbots consume power faster than new plants can be built.

Electricity bills are projected to surge by more than 20% this summer in some parts of PJM Interconnection’s territory, which covers 13 states – from Illinois to Tennessee, Virginia to New Jersey – serving 67 million customers in a region with the most data centers in the world.

The governor of Pennsylvania is threatening to abandon the grid, the CEO has announced his departure and the chair of PJM’s board of managers and another board member were voted out.

The upheaval at PJM started a year ago with a more than 800% jump in prices at its annual capacity auction. Rising prices out of the auction trickle down to everyday people’s power bills.

Now PJM is barreling towards its next capacity auction on Wednesday, when prices may rise even further.

The auction aims to avoid blackouts by establishing a rate at which generators agree to pump out electricity during the most extreme periods of stress on the grid, usually the hottest and coldest days of the year.

High prices out of the auction should spur new power plant construction, but that hasn’t happened quickly enough in PJM’s region as aging power plants continue to retire and data center demand explodes.

PJM has made the situation worse by delaying auctions and pausing the application process for new plants, according to more than a dozen power developers, regulators, energy attorneys and other experts interviewed by Reuters.

“We need speed from PJM, we need transparency from PJM and we need to keep consumer costs down with PJM,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told Reuters in an interview. “I think they’ve taken some steps in that direction which is really encouraging to me and we’re going to continue to work at it.”

PJM says the supply and demand crunch has been caused largely by factors outside of its control, including state energy policies that closed fossil-fuel fired power plants prematurely and data center growth in “Data Center Alley” in Northern Virginia and other burgeoning hubs in the Mid-Atlantic.

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How Israel’s Spy-built Apps Silently Fund Genocide While Infiltrating Your Device

The digital tools millions trust daily—photo editors, casual games, taxi hailers—hide a dark secret: They were crafted by Israeli spies turned tech moguls, funneling profits into apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As Israel wages war under the banner of Zionism, its militarized economy thrives on apps that mine your data, normalize surveillance, and bankroll atrocities. This bombshell investigation exposes the covert Israeli app empire, revealing how even the most innocent downloads fuel a regime built on occupation and bloodshed.

Key points:

    • Hidden owners: Major apps like Facetune, Moovit, and Waze were developed by ex-Israeli military intelligence operatives, laundering their spycraft into Silicon Valley fortunes.
    • Data harvesting risks: These apps often demand intrusive permissions, feeding personal images, locations, and identifiers into Israel’s surveillance-industrial complex.
    • Funding genocide: Companies like Playtika and Crazy Labs openly funnel billions in taxes to Israel’s war economy, with staff actively enlisted in Gaza massacres.
    • Global spyware threat: Behind the apps lies Israel’s Pegasus spyware, sold to dictatorships to crush dissent, murder journalists, and silence Palestinians.
    • Boycott urgency: The BDS movement urges users to purge these apps, breaking Israel’s stranglehold on tech and its economy of occupation.

From military intelligence to your smartphone

Israel’s Unit 8200—a surveillance unit comparable to the NSA—acts as a feeder program for the country’s tech elite. Graduates infiltrate app development, weaponizing civilian software to extract data and revenue. ZipoApps, founded entirely by Unit 8200 veterans, controls photo-editing tools like Collage Maker Photo Editor and Instasquare, boasting over 100 million downloads. Users on Reddit accuse Zipo of bait-and-switch privacy violations, turning open-source apps into paid spyware traps.

Similarly, Facetune, an AI photo editor with 50 million installs, was co-developed by Yaron Inger, who spent five years in Unit 8200. Apple Store reviews warn it’s a “scam,” demanding location tracking and device identifiers. Even ride-hailing apps like Gett and Waze were built by ex-spies, embedding Israel’s military ethos into everyday tech.

“These developers are digital conscripts,” explains a Tel Aviv-based tech whistleblower who requested anonymity. They don’t leave the battlefield—they just monetize it.

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Report: Marco Rubio Imposter Calls High-Level Officials Using AI-Generated Voice

An individual posing as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly used an AI-generated voice to call high-level officials in what appears to be an attempt to manipulate government officials to obtain access to information or accounts.

The unknown Rubio impostor has so far reportedly contacted at least five government officials: three foreign ministers, one U.S. governor, and one member of Congress, according to a State Department cable obtained by the Washington Post.

The individual — whom authorities have not yet been able to identify — reportedly used AI software to send the government officials text messages that mimicked Rubio’s voice and writing style.

Authorities believe the imposter is likely trying to manipulate the high-end officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” the July 3 cable sent by Rubio’s office to State Department employees said.

The unknown individual reportedly began their impersonation attempts in mid-June, using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal under the display name Marco.Rubio@state.gov, which is not the Secretary of State’s real email address.

“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the State Department cable said.

It remains unclear if any of the powerful government officials responded to the Rubio imposter.

The cable also revealed that other U.S. State Department employees were impersonated via fake emails addresses.

The State Department told the Post it will “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future,” and did not disclose the names of the government officials who were contacted, nor the content of the faux messages that were sent.

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