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Thursday, April 6, 2023

The Cipher Brief curates open source information from around the world that impacts national security. Here's a look at today's headlines, broken down by region of the world:  

In the Americas

Taiwan Leader, US Speaker McCarthy Meet in California Despite Chinese Warnings. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan in a series of carefully choreographed meetings, underscoring the balancing act that the US is playing as it tries to bolster relations with Taiwan without escalating tensions with Beijing. The meeting with Mr. McCarty at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was the highest-level government reception a Taiwanese president has enjoyed on US soil, but still fell short of a meeting with the US President, as is customary for heads of state. The visit follows former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last year. China condemned both countries for the visit, going so far as to call the visit “US-Taiwan collusion”, and warned that Beijing would take whatever actions were necessary to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. China launched a three-day special patrol and inspection operation earlier this week in the Taiwan Strait, and Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Wednesday that a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in the waters off Taiwan’s southeast coast ahead of the meeting between McCarthy and Tsai. Reuters Wall Street Journal The New York Times BBC

China Snubs the U.S. After Spy Balloon Incident, Likely to Continue After Tsai’s Visit.  China is rebuffing U.S. efforts to engage and restart high-level talks, demonstrating the high tensions between Beijing and Washington.  This aversion comes after the Chinese spy balloon incident last month, which prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a planned trip to China.  U.S. officials say Washington is seeking to move past this and re-engage, but Beijing is not being receptive.  This reluctance on China’s part is likely to continue due to Beijing’s resentment over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s “transit” stops in the U.S.  Officials and experts warn that if China and the U.S. don’t start talking, especially through renewed military hotlines and dialogue between senior officials, it will be increasingly challenging to manage future crises in relations, especially in the South China Sea, where forces from both countries are in close proximity and could possibly engage each other on accident.  Politico

Blinken: ‘No Doubt’ Russia Has ‘Wrongfully Detained’ WSJ Journalist. The US is working through a formal process to determine whether Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen, is being “wrongfully detained”. The “Wrongful Detention” assessment means that the case will be transferred from the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. The designation broadens the State Department’s authority to exert pressure on the host country, fight for regular consular access, monitor intelligence, build diplomatic coalitions, and exert media pressure. The Biden administration has secured the release of at least 25 Americans with the “wrongful detention” designation; more than 30 other US citizens are still being held abroad without the designation. Reuters Wall Street Journal US Department of State

US, Britain, Albania, and Malta Walk Out On UN Meeting. During a meeting to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, diplomats from the US, Britain, Albania, and Malta walked out as Russia’s envoy for children’s rights, who is wanted for war crimes by the ICC, addressed the council. The US and Britain also blocked an informal meeting on Ukraine called by Russia from being broadcasted by the UN. According to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, they blocked the webcast to prevent Russia from having a podium to spread disinformation on Ukraine.  Reuters Wall Street Journal

US Marine Corp Commandant Calls for Reduction in Classified Information. The Marine Corps Commandant is the latest senior US military leader to call for a reduction of classification of information. Gen. David Berger said the practice of overclassification, a longtime criticism of the U.S. military and intelligence community, hinders American ability to operate with allies and partners.  Berger said the US “gets in its own way” by over compartmentalizing, a practice which he said runs counter to the stated U.S. strategy of prioritizing its relationships with allies and partners.  C4ISRNET

U.S. Army Planning Boost to Electornic Warfare Capabilities.  The U.S. Army is more than tripling its request for electronic warfare (EW) funding in comparison to last year, asking for $67 million for EW procurement in fiscal 2024 compared to $21 million in fiscal 2023.  Officials say the increased focus on EW comes from renewed pressures from modern conflicts, namely the Ukraine war, spurring the need for EW capabilities.  They added that the focus on EW next year is partially due to the recent completion of significant prototyping and research and development efforts.  DefenseScoop

Western Europe

Finland’s Outgoing Prime Minister Steps Down as Party Chief. Following Finland’s recent integration with NATO, outgoing Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that she would be stepping down as leader of the Social Democratic party following the party’s recent electoral defeat. Marin added that beginning next week, she would continue to serve as a regular lawmaker in the parliament. Speaking to reporters, Marin said that she does not plan to run for President, and has not received offers for any international positions.  Reuters

NATO Struggles to Replace Chief, EU Top Executive Rumored to be Slated for Position. Current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is expected to leave the post at the end of September. And yet the high-profile and politically-sensitive nature of the role, which has exponentially increased following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is making it difficult to identify a successor. Officials say that the next Secretary General needs to be a European who can work closely with whomever is in the White House, will back Ukraine but not in a way that scares countries that fear further provoking Russia, and needs to have enough stature to get unanimous support from all 31 capitals. A few names have been floated, notably EU President Ursula von der Leyen, who has yet to express interest in the role and is not expected to go elsewhere until her first presidential term ends in 2024. The lack of a large pool of candidates is also increasing speculation that Stoltenberg may extend his term. He has already served the second-longest tenure in NATO’s history.. EU elections in 2024 are anticipated to further complicate the calculus. Politico

Stoltenberg Cautions China on Supplying Russia with Lethal Aid. According to a report by Euronews, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned China that supplying Russia with lethal weapons would be a “historic mistake” and would have lots of implications. At a press conference in Brussels, Stoltenberg told reporters that they have not been able to confirm that China has supplied Russia with lethal aid, but it is something that they are monitoring.  Kyiv Independent

Poland is Prepared to Send Entire Supply of MiG-29 Jets to Ukraine. During a visit to Poland on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. During the meeting, Zelenskyy thanked Duda for being a close ally of Ukraine. Duda also reportedly told Zelenskyy that Poland could potentially send all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine sometime in the future. Poland has already pledged to send 14 Soviet-made jets to Ukraine. Duda also said that Poland was working to secure additional security guarantees for Ukraine at an upcoming NATO summit in July. Deutsche Welle France 24 

China’s EU Ambassador Says China Did Not Support Ukraine Invasion.  China’s ambassador to the EU, Fu Cong, on Wednesday made the strong claim that China did not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nor has it provided Moscow with weapons to use in the war.  Fu added that there are some who “deliberately misinterpret” the close ties between Beijing and Moscow, specifically saying that the “no limit friendship” between China and Russia is “nothing but rhetoric.”  Fu’s remarks, which appear to distance China and Russia, came ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to China.  Kyiv Post New York Times

Central and Eastern Europe

Ukraine Recruits 8 New Storm Brigades of 40,000 Troops. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry initiated a recruitment campaign on billboards and social media at the start of February in the hopes of bringing in determined volunteers and has begun to train not only servicemen and former policemen, but also women and people with no prior experience. Through this initiative, Ukraine has formed eight new storm brigades numbering 40,000 soldiers.  Sources say Kyiv seeks to use these troops alongside their standard military units in the near future for an anticipated spring counteroffensive.  Reuters

UK Defense Ministry: 'Highly Likely' Top Russian Military Commander Sacked.  The Russian Defense Ministry is "highly likely" of sacking Colonel-General Rustam Muradov, who is commander of Russia’s Eastern Group of Forces, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported. Muradov took on that role following Russian failures in the initial assault on Kyiv but has been stymied by heavy losses and Russia's continuing inability to take the whole of Ukraine's Donbas region. The U.K. Defense Ministry noted that Eastern Group of Forces' operations in Donetsk Oblast have drawn criticism from Muradov's troops, as well as Russian commentators in Moscow. UK Defense Ministry The Kyiv Independent

Zelenskyy Signals Potential Pullout From Bakhmut.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday told reporters that while Ukraine still is in control of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s military will take “corresponding correct decisions” to protect Ukrainian troops in the embattled city if they are at risk of being encircled by Russian forces.  His comments appear to signal that Ukraine is open to withdrawing from Bakhmut if Russia makes further progress in the city.  He added that the more military support Ukraine receives from Western partners, the better equipped it will be to go on the counter offensive in Bakhmut and elsewhere.  Reuters

Putin Calls out US and EU Envoys, Says They Are Fueling the War. During a presentation of diplomatic credentials to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Putin told new U.S. and E.U. ambassadors to Russia that they were responsible for the rapid deterioration in relations between Russia and their respective countries since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin told new US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy that relations between the US and Russia were in a “deep crisis” that was “based on fundamentally different approaches to the formation of the modern world order”, and that the current rift dates back to US support for a revolution in Ukraine in 2014, which ultimately led to Russia’s seizure of Crimea. Reuters

Russia Summons French Diplomat Over Atrocity Statements.  In other news on the diplomatic front, Russia’s foreign ministry summoned France’s charge d’affaires in Moscow to protest the French embassy’s decision to post information on alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine on its website.  The Russian foreign ministry called the posts, which it said included mentions of civilian killings in Bucha, “unfounded” and full of “false accusations.”  Russia maintains it has not targeted civilians in its invasion of Ukraine, despite the West and Kyiv saying there is evidence to the contrary.  Kyiv Post

Russian Aircraft In Need of Maintenance It Can No Longer Get. Ongoing sanctions and export controls have limited Russian access to the parts, software, and technical skills needed to conduct critical maintenance on hundreds of commercial jets, according to analysis from the Wall Street Journal, raising safety concerns among industry executives and regulators. When the measures were introduced last year, Western officials said that they specifically targeted Russia’s commercial aviation sector, as it is incredibly dependent on Western assistance; however, despite needing critical maintenance, Russian airlines have kept flying. The Russian aviation industry had, until last year, largely outsourced these critical checks to foreign companies, further complicating their ability to conduct the maintenance and safety checks themselves. The lack of access to maintenance resources has, in part, led the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency, to downgrade the country’s safety assessment. Wall Street Journal

Russian Official Claims No Forced Deportation of Ukrainian Children.  During an informal UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova – who the ICC has charged with war crimes for deporting children from Ukraine – said that Ukrainian children were ‘taken for their safety’ and relayed that Moscow was coordinating with international organizations to reunite them with their families. The meeting was boycotted by Western ambassadors, who sent low-level diplomats instead; diplomats from the US, UK, Albania, and Malta walked out when Lvova-Belova started to speak. The exact number of Ukrainian children taken to Russia has been difficult to determine; on Wednesday, Ukraine’s UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said nearly 20,000 children had been seized from their families or orphanages and forcibly deported to Russia. An AP investigation previously found that Russian officials deported Ukrainian children to Russia without their parents’ consent and instead gave them Russian families and citizenship. Associated Press CBS New Washington Post

Asia

China Planning $500 Million Undersea Internet Cable Project.  China’s three main state-owned telecommunications carriers are reportedly developing a $500 million undersea fiber-optic internet cable that will service Asia, the Middle East and Europe.  Sources familiar with the aptly named EMA (Europe-Middle East-Asia) cable will start in Hong Kong then link to Hainan island, Singapore, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France.  The EMA will directly rival the U.S.-led undersea cable named SeaMeWe-6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-6), which is being built by U.S. undersea data company SubCom LLC and will run through many of the countries the EMA will link to.  These large undersea internet cable projects are the latest sign of the technology competition between China and the U.S.  Reuters 

Macron Asks Xi to ‘Bring Russia Back to Reason’; Xi Calls for Peace Talks.  French President Emmanuel Macron, who is visiting China, called on Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday to “bring Russia to its senses” to help make a lasting peace in Ukraine. In response, Xi said that China calls for the protection of civilians and to not avoid nuclear war, but did not indicate whether or not he was willing to use his relationship with Vladimir Putin to bring Russia to the negotiating table. Xi called relations between France and China “positive and steady” in a world “undergoing profound historical changes”, and observers commented that the elaborate reception – which included marching bands, a 21-gun salute, review of troops, and a long walk on a red carpet – seemed designed to flatter Macron. The two leaders will spend at least six hours in Beijing and Guangzhou tomorrow. Xi called for peace talks in Ukraine to resume after that initial Macron meeting Associated Press New York Times

China Stages Naval Drills, Sends Carrier Group Near Taiwan Over McCarthy-Tsai Meeting.  Chinese naval forces are conducting a series of exercises near Taiwan.  Off the island’s east coast, Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong is reportedly engaged in training drills with other warships.  Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said Taipei is closely observing the Shandong and noted that aircraft have not been seen leaving its deck.  In the Taiwan Strait, China's Fujian maritime safety administration says it is conducting a special joint patrol, which includes the boarding of cargo ships for “on-site inspections.”  Taiwan authorities have protested the patrols and urged vessels in the region to refuse Chinese inspection requests and call on the Taiwan coast guard for help if approached.  The exercises on both sides of Taiwan are an apparent show of force to protest Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s “transit” visits to the U.S., namely her latter stop in Los Angeles where she met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.  Al Jazeera Reuters 

China Moves to Consolidate Control Along Disputed Border Territory with India.  China is set to consolidate control over two Tibetan towns, changing their designation to ‘city status’ in a move that risks fuel border dispute tensions with India. What is effectively tantamount to an assertion of sovereignty, Chinese authorities unveiled a new map of included Indian-held territory south of the Line of Actual Control. Its Ministry of Civil Affairs also said it had “standardized” the names of 11 places, including five mountains, in what China calls its southern Tibet region, which overlap with India’s claims. India has rejected the new assessment. In 1962, the two countries fought a war over frontier areas that were ambiguously demarcated.  South China Morning Post

North Korea Warns U.S. and South Korea; There are ‘Dark Clouds of Nuclear War.’ On Thursday, North Korea accused South Korea and the U.S. of escalating tensions “to the brink of nuclear war” with their joint military drills, and vowed to respond with offensive action.  The comments, aired on North Korean state media, came amid joint exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces, including air drills this week where the U.S. flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and last week’s large-scale amphibious landing drills. In response to these exercises, in recent weeks, North Korea has been ramping up its military activity, unveiling new, smaller nuclear warheads, firing intercontinental ballistic missiles and testing what it called a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone. In addition to condemning these activities on Thursday, South Korea and the U.S. also agreed to increase efforts to counter North Korea’s illegal cyber activities, including hacking and theft of virtual currencies.  C4ISRNET Reuters Associated Press 

Pakistani Forces Kill 8 Insurgents Near Afghan Border. Pakistan’s military claims that their security forces killed 8 insurgents near Afghanistan’s border in an overnight shootout that left four servicemen injured and one dead on Wednesday. The slain militants were allegedly implicated in the murder of civilians and assaults on Pakistani troops. It is thought that the insurgents belonged to the Pakistani Taliban, because in the past the region along the Afghan Border was used as a retreat for militant groups and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.  Associated Press 

Middle East and Northern Africa

Saudi Arabian and Iranian Foreign Ministers Meet in China. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud met in Beijing on Thursday, in the first formal meeting of the country's top diplomats in over seven years. This meeting comes after China brokered a deal last month between the two nations to restore relations after years of hostility between the two that has created conflict across the Middle East. The two countries released a joint statement stating they plan to start discussions to reopen embassies and consulates.  Reuters Al Jazeera 

Israeli Forces and Palestinians Clash Again at Jerusalem Holy Site.  Violence broke out at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque for the second night in a row after armed Israeli police again stormed the holy site and clashed with Palestinians on Wednesday.  The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said six Palestinians were injured in the violence.  Palestinian militants in Gaza again fired rockets in response to the raid.  The mosque, which both Jews and Muslims claim as their own, has been a site of increasing violence in recent years; al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam and stands in what Jews know as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.  The international community has called for an end to the violence; the Arab League, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia condemned the Israeli raid, saying it endangered regional stability and peace efforts.  Reuters Al Jazeera Associated Press

Israel Says It Faced Rocket Barrage from Lebanon.  A slew of rockets was fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday, in what constitutes an escalation in tensions amid recent Israeli raids at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.  Israel’s military says most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.  The barrage, which included at least a dozen rockets, is the largest such attack since the 2006 war between the two countries. The Lebanese army did yet comment on the reported launches, nor did the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The reported attacks come just one a day after the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Beirut.  Al Jazeera Axios CNN

Tunisia President’s ‘Disappearance’ Raises Concerns. Tunisian President Kais Saied’s lack of public visibility in almost two weeks is raising concerns about his health and succession in a country that has become increasingly authoritarian in recent years. The President resurfaced in a video posted on his Facebook page on Monday after media outlets, activists, and the country’s political opposition raised alarms about his ‘disappearance’. The root of his temporary absence remains unclear, and has been ripe for speculation; on Saturday, former Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, from the opposition Ennahda party, claimed that President Saied was in a military hospital. The risks of a serious health condition incapacitating the Tunisian President are stark. In July, Tunisia passed a new constitution that cemented Saied’s one-man rule, which has not existed since the overthrow of former President Ben Ali during Tunisia’s Arab Spring revolution, and was widely viewed as eliminating the last remnants of democracy within the country. There is currently no clear outline of how a transfer of power would occur, even temporarily, should Saied become incapacitated. CNN

Iran Says It Thwarted Drone Attack on Ministry of Defense Facility.  Iran says it thwarted another drone attack against a Ministry of Defence complex in the provincial capital of Isfahan, some 270 miles south of Tehran. The Iranian government has blamed Israel for similar styled attacks against the facility in the past. News of the attacks comes just days after Israeli air strikes in Syria killed at least two Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members. Last month, a U.S. contractor was killed — and five U.S. service members and a second U.S. contractor wounded — when a suspected Iranian drone hit a coalition base in Syria.  Reuters

Sub Saharan Africa

South African Government Ends ‘State of Disaster’, But Electricity Problems Remain. Although the South African government on Wednesday ended the national state of disaster it declared two months ago over an electricity crisis, there are no signs that the power issues have ended. Nationwide rolling blackouts, which currently last six hours each day, continue due to failures at state-run power company, Eskom. The national state of disaster designation was intended to allow the government to focus power provision to services like hospitals and water treatment plants and free up public money to purchase additional power from surrounding countries on an emergency basis. The electricity problems have been blamed on corruption and years of mismanagement at Eskom, which has struggled to keep its coal-fired power plants operating. Analysts say the power cuts are also hampering South Africa’s economy, raising fears of a recession in the country.  Al Jazeera Associated Press 

Cyber & Tech

Authorities Seize Dark Web Marketplace in Global Operation.  The FBI and several European law enforcement agencies on Wednesday announced they launched a massive crackdown on Genesis Market, a top invitation-only cyber fraud platform.  In the operation, the FBI took down one of Genesis Market’s main websites and exposed information on almost 60,000 user accounts on the platform.  Authorities also globally arrested over 100 people linked to the forum, including some individuals in the U.S.  The U.S. Justice Department says Genesis Market has been a popular source for hacked computers and has stolen identifiable data and login credentials for over 80 million user accounts from over 1.5 million computers over the last five years.  The forum’s network has not been entirely eliminated; the marketplace’s administrators have yet to be found or identified and its site is still accessible through the dark web.  BleepingComputer CNN CyberScoop The Record

Google Releases Update on North Korea Hacking Group APT43.  Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) on Wednesday released a report as a follow-up to research published by Mandiant last week about APT43, an alleged state-sponsored hacking group linked to North Korea’s military.  The TAG report looks more closely at a subset of APT43 it tracks as “Archipelago,” which focused on sending phishing emails to key targets by posing as members of the press or think tank researchers.  The report tracks a range of tactics by Archipelago to deliver malware, from Google account security emails to Chrome extension abuses.  The Record

Apple Executive Beck to Lead Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.  Doug Beck, a vice president of Apple, has been chosen to head the Pentagon’s Silicon Valley-based Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).  As director of the DIU, Beck will lead the unit’s mission to accelerate the U.S. military’s adoption of commercial technology.  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the appointment, adding that Beck will report directly to him, marking an elevation of the role.  Beck is replacing Mike Brown, who left the DIU in September 2022 after serving as director for four years.  C4ISRNET DefenseScoop   

Chinese AI Experts Join Calls to Pause Development.  South China Morning Post is out with a piece on a group of artificial intelligence (AI) experts in China and Hong Kong who are joining calls for a pause to AI development until better regulations on the technology are put in place.  The Chinese experts are among signatories of an open letter from tech leaders, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, warning that the current progress of AI is too fast to manage security and societal risks.  The concern comes in response to the AI boom spurred by the success of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT.  The spotlight on the Chinese experts is notable as it shows that despite tech competition between Washington and Beijing, there are those on both sides warning for more responsible, measured approaches to AI.  South China Morning Post

Cyberespionage Group from Palestine Targeting Local Organizations.  Cybersecurity company Symantec says it is tracking a cyberespionage group operating out of the Palestinian territories.  The group, which Symantec calls “Mantis,” but is also called “Arid Viper,” has allegedly been active since at least 2014 and has targeted organizations in Palestine, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries with malware through phishing email campaigns and fake social media accounts.  Symantec did not provide specifics on targets, only saying they are not human rights organizations or government entities and could not confidently link Mantis to a particular Palestinian group, like Hamas.  The Record

Navy Extends AI Operations to Southern Command After Task Force Success.  During a presentation at the Navy League’s Annual Sea Air Space conference, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told attendees that the Navy was creating unmanned, AI operations hub within US Southern Command. Following achievements of Task Force 59 in the Middle East, further unmanned and artificial intelligence tools would be worked into the U.S. 4th Fleet, in an effort crack down on narcotics and human trafficking, as well as unreported and unregulated fishing by China. DefenseNews DefenseScoop

New Rorschach Ransomware Boasts 'Technically Unique Features.’  Researchers at cybersecurity company Check Point say they have discovered a new ransomware strain they are calling “Rorschach.”  The researchers said Rorschach, which they found when responding to a cyber incident at a U.S. company, was deployed using Cortex XDR, a commercial security product from Palo Alto Networks.  They added that the ransomware was observed to be self-replicating and uniquely adaptive and exhibited especially fast encryption speeds.  It is unclear who was behind the attack using Rorschach, but researchers found it would only encrypt data on targeted devices using languages outside the Russophone Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).  BleepingComputer InfoSecurity

UK Regulator Fines Tiktok $15.8 Million For Misuse Of Children’s Data.  The UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, is fining TikTok 12.7 million pounds ($15.9 million) for allegedly collecting data of children under 13 without parental consent or proper age verification procedures.  The ICO also accused TikTok of failing to properly inform users how their data was collected and used between 2018 and 2020.  TikTok, which was reportedly used by nearly 1.4 million UK children in 2020, according to the ICO, has denied wrongdoing and maintains it invests in procedures to protect minors on the platform.  The fine comes amid escalating Western scrutiny of TikTok, as well as more general efforts focused on children’s privacy online.  CyberScoop Wall Street Journal 

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