China is accused of hacking the payroll system for the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The BBC and Sky News report that the severe data breach exposed the personal information of active military personnel and veterans. The information mainly consists of full names and bank details, but in some cases, it might also include personal addresses.

Affected individuals are being notified, and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps should provide MPs with a more detailed update today. He is anticipated to outline a plan of action for protecting anyone whose data was compromised. All salaries are expected to be paid as usual this month.

In a statement, China's foreign minister said the country "firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks" and "rejects the use of this issue politically to smear other countries." However, this isn't the first time the UK and China have clashed over security concerns. In March, UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden accused China of being behind an August 2021 hack of the Electoral Commission, as the BBC reported at the time. The UK also banned TikTok — owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance — from all government devices in March 2023, claiming protective measures.

Meta’s Oversight Board is taking up a new set of cases that touch on the commentary surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict. The board says it will review three cases involving Facebook posts that used the phrase “from the river to the sea.”

Though use of the slogan predates the current conflict by several decades, it’s received renewed attention and scrutiny since the October 7 attacks. “On the one hand, the phrase has been used to advocate for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians,” the board writes in a statement. “On the other hand, it could have antisemitic implications, as claimed by the users who submitted the cases to the Board.”

The board notes that in all three cases, Meta found that the posts didn’t violate its policies around promoting violence, hate speech or terrorist content. The Oversight Board says it will “consider how Meta should moderate the use of the phrase given the resurgence in its use after October 7, 2023, and controversies around the phrase’s meaning.”

It's not the first time the Oversight Board has considered cases related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The group previously took on a pair of cases on the removal of posts about the October 7 attacks and a subsequent airstrike in Gaza. In those cases, the group’s first-ever “expedited reviews,” the board blamed Meta’s automated moderation tools for mistakenly removing posts that should have been left up.

Notably, the board says all three posts in its latest cases were originally shared last November. And, unlike the earlier cases related to the conflict, the Oversight Board won’t be expediting its decisions. That means it could be several weeks before a decision is published. Meta will then have 60 days to respond to any policy recommendations that come out of the case.

The Biden Administration has opened applications for $285 million in CHIPS Act funding for an institute to develop digital twins for the chip manufacturing industry. The investment aims to speed up silicon design and engineering while boosting national security. It’s part of a multi-billion-dollar push to establish the US as a thriving chip fabrication powerhouse, reducing dependence on the global supply chain and establishing technological dominance over China.

Digital twins are advanced software models of hardware (in this case, processors) that can help save time and money and increase efficiency. The virtual clones allow engineers to anticipate problems and adjust designs accordingly before manufacturing even begins. The auto industry and Space Force (for satellite simulations) have also used the tech.

The Department of Commerce says AI also plays a role. “Digital twin-based research can also leverage emerging technology like artificial intelligence to help accelerate the design of new U.S. chip development and manufacturing concepts and significantly reduce costs by improving capacity planning, production optimization, facility upgrades, and real-time process adjustments.”

Nvidia

The funding is part of the 2022 CHIPS Act’s $39 billion allocated for semiconductor R&D. The US had already doled out billions in CHIPS Act manufacturing incentives, including $6.4 billion to Samsung, $6.6 billion for TSMC, $6.1 billion for Micron and $8.5 billion for Intel. However, Bloomberg notes that R&D funding like this could be the most crucial piece of the Biden Administration’s long game to spark homegrown silicon innovation and avoid scenarios where supply chain shutdowns halt parts of the US economy and national security.

The government says the institute’s funds will go toward basic operations, research on digital twins, establishing and supporting shared digital facilities and workforce training. The Biden Administration wants to avoid scenarios like depending on foreign adversaries for tech that can influence America’s national security (as the US military increasingly relies on advanced tech), economic independence and supply chain control.

The Biden Administration’s CHIPS program will host a meeting for potential applicants on May 16.

“This new Manufacturing USA institute will not only help to make America a leader in developing this new technology for the semiconductor industry, it will also help train the next generation of American workers and researchers to use digital twins for future advances in R&D and production of chips,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo wrote in a press release.

Facebook is a hotbed for conspiracy theories and dangerous organizing at critical moments, like the 650,000-plus posts arguing against President Biden's victory between the 2020 general election and the January 6 insurrection. Some users scattered following the latter and subsequent prosecutions, but a new report first published by Wired shows a resurgence, identifying about 200 groups and profiles across the platform organizing militia activity nationwide.

The research, conducted by the Tech Transparency Project, found these groups have ties to organizations such as the Three Percenters militia network, dubbed by Meta as an "armed militia group" in its 2021 Dangerous Individuals and Organizations List. Yet, groups such as the Free American Army have urged users to join their local militia or the Three Percenters without consequence (Meta took down the Free American Army group only after Wired enquired about it, calling Facebook an "adversarial space" that requires regular investment to stay safe).

Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, has watched hundreds of these groups and people since 2021 and has seen an increased seriousness and focus on organizing over the previous year. "Many of these groups are no longer fractured sets of localized militia but coalitions formed between multiple militia groups, many with Three Percenters at the helm," Paul told Wired. "Facebook remains the largest gathering place for extremists and militia movements to cast a wide net and funnel users to more private chats, including on the platform, where they can plan and coordinate with impunity."

The Tech Transparency Project found users seek out "active patriots" to discuss anti-government ideology, attend meetings and take combat training. The latter lends itself to a common theme: being prepared for standing up against or even going to war against enemies such as drag queens, pro-Palestine college students and the government itself.

Take a recent post by the administrator of a group called the Pennsylvania Light Foot, which has over 1,000 members: "In light of the violence and uncertainty in the world, Covid 19 shortages, civil unrest, and potential for terrorist attacks and natural calamity, we exist to equip our members. Our aim is to equip them with the ability to defend themselves, whether it be a mugger on the street or foreign soldier on our lawn." These sentiments are echoed by other extremist organizers across Facebook. 

Meta has attempted to at least create a facade of action and transparency. In 2019, it launched the Oversight Board as an independent reviewer of its content moderation. While the entity has pointed to Facebook's role in dangerous election rhetoric, including incidents outside the United States, critics argue it hasn't been impactful enough. Now, The Washington Post reports that layoffs at the Oversight Board could be imminent.

On August 14, Meta will shutter CrowdTangle, a tool it bought in 2016 that allowed journalists and academics to see how conspiracy theories and false information moved on Facebook and its sister site Instagram — often showcasing the platforms' shortcomings. The company is replacing it with the Meta Content Library, which not only appears to be less detailed but isn't available to for-profit news organizations.

The EU has officially opened a significant investigation into Meta for its alleged failures to remove election disinformation. While the European Commission’s statement doesn’t explicitly mention Russia, Meta confirmed to Engadget the EU probe targets the country’s Doppelganger campaign, an online disinformation operation pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda.

Bloomberg’s sources also said the probe was focused on the Russian disinformation operation, describing it as a series of “attempts to replicate the appearance of traditional news sources while churning out content that is favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies.”

The investigation comes a day after France said 27 of the EU’s 29 member states had been targeted by pro-Russian online propaganda ahead of European parliamentary elections in June. On Monday, France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot urged social platforms to block websites “participating in a foreign interference operation.”

A Meta spokesperson told Engadget that the company had been at the forefront of exposing Russia’s Doppelganger campaign, first spotlighting it in 2022. The company said it has since investigated, disrupted and blocked tens of thousands of the network’s assets. The Facebook and Instagram owner says it remains on high alerts to monitor the network while claiming Doppelganger has struggled to successfully build organic audiences for the pro-Putin fake news.

Meta

The European Commission’s President said Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), the landmark legislation passed in 2022 that empowers the EU to regulate social platforms. The law allows the EC to, if necessary, impose heavy fines on violating companies — up to six percent of a company’s global annual turnover, potentially changing how social companies operate.

In a statement to Engadget, Meta said, “We have a well-established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work.”

The EC probe will cover “Meta’s policies and practices relating to deceptive advertising and political content on its services.” It also addresses “the non-availability of an effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool ahead of the elections to the European Parliament.”

The latter refers to Meta’s deprecation of its CrowdTangle tool, which researchers and fact-checkers used for years to study how content spreads across Facebook and Instagram. Dozens of groups signed an open letter last month, saying Meta’s planned shutdown during the crucial 2024 global elections poses a “direct threat” to global election integrity.

Meta told Engadget that CrowdTangle only provides a fraction of the publicly available data and would be lacking as a full-fledged election monitoring tool. The company says it’s building new tools on its platform to provide more comprehensive data to researchers and other outside parties. It says it’s currently onboarding key third-party fact-checking partners to help identify misinformation.

However, with Europe’s elections in June and the critical US elections in November, Meta had better get moving on its new API if it wants the tools to work when it matters most.

The EC gave Meta five working days to respond to its concerns before it would consider further escalating the matter. “This Commission has created means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries,” EC President von der Leyen wrote. “If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act.”

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are joining the government's Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, according to The Wall Street Journal. They're also joined by Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Northrop Grumman's Kathy Warden and Delta's Ed Bastian, along with other leaders in the tech and AI industry. The AI board will be working with and advising the Department of Homeland Security on how it can safely deploy AI within the country's critical infrastructure. They're also tasked with conjuring recommendations for power grid operators, transportation service providers and manufacturing plants on how they can can protect their systems against potential threats that could be brought about by advances in the technology. 

The Biden administration ordered the creation of an AI safety board last year as part of a sweeping executive order that focuses on regulating AI development. In the Homeland Security's website, it said the board "includes AI experts from the private sector and government that advise the Secretary and the critical infrastructure community." Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the Journal that the use of AI in critical infrastructure can greatly improve services — it can, for instance, speed up illness diagnoses or quickly detect anomalies in power plants — but they carry a significant risk which the agency is hoping to minimize with the help of this board. 

That said, one can't help but question if these AI tech leaders can provide guidance that aren't meant to primarily serve themselves and their companies. Their work centers around advancing AI technologies and promoting their use, after all, while the board is meant to ensure that critical infrastructure systems are using AI responsibly. Mayorkas seems to be confident that they'll do their jobs properly, though, telling the Journal that the tech leaders "understand the mission of this board," and that it's "not a mission that is about business development."

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to reinstate net neutrality protections that were jettisoned during the Trump administration. As expected, the vote fell across party lines with the three Democratic commissioners in favor and the two Republicans on the panel voting against the measure.

With net neutrality rules in place, broadband service is considered an essential communications resource under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. That enables the FCC to regulate broadband internet in a similar way to water, power and phone services. That includes giving the agency oversight of outages and the security of broadband networks.

Under net neutrality rules, internet service providers have to treat broadband usage in the same way. Users have to be provided with access to all content, websites and apps under the same speeds and conditions. ISPs can't block or prioritize certain content — they're not allowed to throttle access to specific sites or charge streaming services for faster service.

The FCC adopted net neutrality protections in 2015 during the Obama administration. But they were scrapped when President Donald Trump was in office. Back in 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to bring back the Obama-era rules, but the FCC was unable to do so for quite some time. The commission was deadlocked with two Democratic votes and two Republican votes until Anna Gomez was sworn in as the third Democratic commissioner on the panel last September. The FCC then moved relatively quickly (at least in terms of the FCC's pace) to re-establish net neutrality protections.

The issue may not be entirely settled. There may still be legal challenges from the telecom industry. However, the FCC's vote in favor of net neutrality is a win for advocates of an open and equitable internet.

The Biden administration is tackling the monumental task of making America’s industrial freight system more environmentally friendly. The White House said on Wednesday that it aims to have 30 percent of industrial truck sales produce zero emissions by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.

In addition to those non-binding targets, the White House is meeting on Wednesday with stakeholders from the commercial vehicle, shipping and infrastructure industries to help execute its agenda. The roundtable is designed to advance the Biden Administration’s goal of “supercharging the buildout of the infrastructure necessary to make a zero-emissions freight ecosystem a reality in the United States.”

Unsurprisingly, the freight industry uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of pollution to match. Bloomberg notes that the transportation sector emits about 29 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, and freight (including shipping, trucking and trains) makes up about a third of that figure. So, you can ballpark that the American freight industry is responsible for roughly 10 percent of the country’s carbon emissions.

As part of the election-year rollout, the Biden Administration plans to ask the public to comment on charging infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles, signaling that the specifics of the plan aren’t yet finalized. The White House wants to avoid a fragmented industrial EV charging system without a universally agreed-upon standard. The industry has seemingly settled on Tesla’s NACS as the de facto choice in the lightweight consumer sector.

Alongside the newly announced industrial goals, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is opening up about $1 billion in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding to replace Class 6 and 7 vehicles (school buses, garbage trucks and delivery trucks) with electric equivalents.

The IRA requires that at least $400 million of that funding goes to local communities hit the hardest by industrial pollution. The White House says 72 million Americans live near truck freight routes and bear the brunt of their short-term output. Sadly but unsurprisingly (given the nation’s history), people of color and those from low-income households are most likely to be heavily affected by high environmental toxin levels.

The White House’s goals are admirable, given the urgency of the global climate crisis and the freight industry’s role. However, one significant problem remains: These are voluntary, non-binding resolutions that could — and, given public comments, almost certainly would — be undone by a second Trump Administration, should the serial napper return to office next year. As with many other aspects of the nation’s and world’s future, US voters will decide the outcome this November.

The bill that will force a sale or ban of TikTok in the United States is now law. President Joe Biden signed a package of foreign aid bills that included the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” one day after the legislation was approved by the Senate.

In a statement, TikTok said it would challenge the law in court, which could delay an eventual sale or ban. “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company said. “We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.”

The law gives TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which is based in China, up to a year to sell the app to a new owner. If the company fails to divest, then TikTok will be banned from US app stores and web hosting services.

Unlike previous attempts to force a sale or ban of the app, the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” had overwhelming bipartisan support and was able to move through Congress with remarkable speed. The original version of the bill, which called for a six-month window to divest, passed the House in March, just days after it was introduced. An updated version, which allows up to 12 months for a divestment, passed over the weekend.

In a video shared on TikTok, CEO Shou Chew called it a “disappointing moment” for the company. “Make no mistake, this is a ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice,” he said. “It's actually ironic because the freedom of expression on TikTok reflects the same American values that make the United States a beacon of freedom.”

Developing...

A bill that could ban TikTok is now all but certain to become law. The Senate approved a measure that requires ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban, in a vote of 79 - 18. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” will next head to President Joe Biden, who has said he would sign the bill into law.

While it’s far from the first effort to force a ban or divestment of the social media app, the bill managed to draw far more support than previous attempts. The bill was introduced in March and sailed through the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan agreement. A slightly revised version was approved as part of a package of foreign aid legislation on Saturday.

Under the updated terms, TikTok would have up to 12 months to divest from parent company ByteDance or face a ban in US app stores and web hosting services. The company has called the bill unconstitutional and indicated it would mount a legal challenge to such a law, which could further delay an eventual sale or ban.

The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok has long been viewed with suspicion by lawmakers and the intelligence community. Ahead of votes in the House and Senate, members of Congress were briefed by intelligence officials on the alleged national security threat posed by the app. The exact nature of those concerns is still unclear, though some members of Congress have asked for details from the briefings to be declassified.

At the same time, some lawmakers have expressed skepticism, saying that the alleged threat posed by TikTok is largely hypothetical. Free speech and digital rights groups also oppose the bill, noting that comprehensive privacy legislation would be a more effective way of protecting Americans’ personal data. TikTok CEO Shou Chew has made a similar argument, telling Congress last year that a forced sale wouldn’t resolve data concerns about the app.

But TikTok’s recent efforts to muster opposition to the bill may have backfired. Lawmakers rebuked the company for sending in-app notifications to users about the bill after the alerts resulted in a flood of calls to Congressional offices. And the app may have drawn even more suspicion when Politico reported last week that Chinese diplomats were lobbying Congressional staffers to oppose the bill. Officials in China have condemned the measure. A Chinese law, passed in 2020, could prevent ByteDance from including TikTok’s recommendation algorithm in a sale of the app.