Digital standards

Europe pressed to slow digital age-verification push amid privacy fears

Hundreds of academics urged governments to halt plans for mandatory age checks on social media, rather than accelerating deployment without assessing the risks.

The warning arrives as several European states consider restrictions on children’s access to online platforms and as companies promote verification tools such as live selfies or uploads of government-issued IDs.

Researchers argue that current systems expose people to privacy breaches, security vulnerabilities and malicious sites that ignore verification rules instead of offering meaningful protection.

They say scientific consensus has not yet formed on the benefits or harms of age-assurance technologies, making large-scale implementation premature and potentially discriminatory.

The letter stresses that any credible system would require cryptographic safeguards for every query, protecting data in transit rather than leaving identity checks to platforms without robust technical guarantees.

Academics believe such infrastructure would be complex to build globally and would create friction that many providers may refuse to adopt.

Concern escalated after early deployments in Italy and France, where verification is already mandatory.

Signatories, including Ronald Rivest and Bart Preneel, warn that governments risk introducing a socially unacceptable system that increases exposure to data misuse instead of ensuring children’s safety online.

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X rolls out Paid Partnership labels to boost creator transparency

The social media platform, X, has introduced a new ‘Paid Partnership’ label that creators can attach to posts to show when content is promotional instead of leaving audiences unsure about commercial intent.

An update that improves transparency for followers while meeting rules set by the Federal Trade Commission, which expects sponsored material to be disclosed clearly.

Creators previously relied on hashtags such as #ad or #paidpartnership instead of an integrated disclosure option. The new feature allows users to apply the label through a content-disclosure toggle either during posting or afterwards.

X’s product lead, Nikita Bier, said undisclosed promotions damage trust and weaken the platform’s integrity, so the tool is meant to support creators and regulators simultaneously.

X has been trying to build a stronger creator ecosystem by offering payouts, subscriptions and other incentives. Yet many creators still favour Instagram or YouTube over X as their primary channel, because those platforms have longer-standing monetisation tools.

The addition of a built-in label aligns X with broader industry practice and aims to regain credibility among advertisers and creators.

The company has also tightened API access, preventing programmatic replies unless a user is directly mentioned or quoted.

A change that seeks to limit LLM-generated spam instead of allowing automated responses to distort discussions or appear as fake engagement beneath sponsored content.

X hopes these combined measures will enhance authenticity around commercial posts.

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Non-human identities gain importance in cloud and AI security

As organisations expand across cloud environments, non-human identities are becoming a critical component of modern cybersecurity strategies. Managing machine identities and their associated secrets is increasingly central to reducing risk and improving AI-driven threat detection.

As digital infrastructure grows, machine identities function as secure access credentials for applications, services, and automated processes. Effective governance can reduce vulnerabilities, improve compliance, and streamline operations across sectors such as finance and healthcare.

Integrating non-human identities into AI security frameworks enables more contextual anomaly detection and improved visibility into network behaviour. Rather than relying solely on static scanning, organisations can adopt adaptive models that enhance predictive threat response.

Challenges remain, particularly around coordination between security, DevOps, and research teams. Gaps in collaboration and limited awareness of identity lifecycle management can create blind spots that weaken overall cyber resilience.

Automation is increasingly seen as essential for scaling non-human identity management. By automating secrets rotation, certificate renewal, and access reviews, organisations can strengthen governance while enabling security teams to focus on higher-value strategic priorities.

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A new bill aims to formalise crypto taxation in Turkey

Turkey’s ruling AK Party has introduced a bill in parliament to formalise cryptocurrency taxation and revise key tax and spending rules. The legislation links crypto taxation to Turkey’s Capital Markets Law and sets a clear framework for digital assets.

Under the proposal, regulated crypto platforms would withhold a 10% tax on gains quarterly, applicable to both individuals and companies, residents and non-residents. Transaction service providers are subject to a 0.03% tax, and investors on unlicensed platforms must declare gains annually.

The president would have the authority to adjust the withholding tax between 0% and 20%, depending on factors such as token type, holding period, issuer, or wallet type. Exemptions include VAT-free crypto deliveries and corporate tax changes for foundation university hospitals from 2027.

If approved, the crypto taxation provisions would take effect two months after publication, signalling Turkey’s first formal steps to regulate digital assets and integrate them into the national tax system.

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Samsung advances AI RAN with NVIDIA breakthrough

The South Korean electronics company, Samsung, has completed a multi-cell test that brings its virtualised RAN software together with accelerated computing from NVIDIA.

A validation that took place in a realistic network environment confirms that the combined architecture is nearing commercial readiness as AI-native networks continue to evolve.

The company plans to highlight the achievement at Mobile World Congress 2026 as part of its broader push toward software-driven networks that use AI instead of fixed hardware optimisation.

Samsung will demonstrate an AI-based MIMO beamformer running on NVIDIA infrastructure, which offers operators higher throughput and improved spectral efficiency by extracting more value from existing spectrum.

NVIDIA and Samsung are also advancing a unified processor design that integrates CPU and GPU within a single chipset, enabling faster and more efficient data exchange.

Recently, Samsung integrated its vRAN software with the NVIDIA ARC Compact platform equipped with the Grace CPU and L4 GPU, taking another step toward commercial AI-RAN deployments.

The firm says that experience from large-scale vRAN rollouts and close collaboration with industry computing partners strengthens its position in delivering AI-powered network platforms for operators worldwide.

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Microsoft reveals OAuth redirection abuse powering new phishing attempts

Researchers at Microsoft have identified phishing activity that abuses legitimate OAuth redirection behaviour instead of relying on credential theft.

Threat actors create malicious applications within attacker-controlled tenants and configure redirect pages that lead victims from trusted authentication domains to malware-delivery sites.

A technique that has been used against government and public-sector organisations and is designed to bypass email and browser defences by embedding URLs that appear genuine.

The attack begins with lures themed around documents, financial matters or meeting requests, each containing OAuth URLs crafted to trigger silent authentication.

Validation errors, session checks and Conditional Access evaluations provide attackers with information about session status without granting access to tokens, yet still deliver the victim to a malicious landing page.

Once redirected, victims encounter phishing frameworks or are served ZIP files containing shortcut files and HTML-based loaders. These PowerShell commands launch system discovery and extract files used for DLL side-loading.

Executing a legitimate process allows a malicious DLL to load unseen, decrypt the final payload and establish a connection to a remote command-and-control server for hands-on keyboard activity.

Microsoft Entra has removed identified malicious OAuth applications, although related activity continues to appear.

Microsoft emphasises that OAuth redirection follows standards such as RFC 6749 and RFC 9700, meaning attackers cannot exploit normal protocol behaviour instead of software vulnerabilities.

Stronger governance of OAuth applications, tighter consent controls and cross-domain monitoring are required to prevent trusted authentication flows from being turned into delivery paths for phishing and malware.

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Ericsson completes first pre-standard 6G OTA session in US

Ericsson has completed the world’s first pre-standard 6G over-the-air session in the United States, marking a milestone toward commercial 6G networks. The trial took place in Plano, Texas, using a pre-standard system built on an AI-native, cloud-based architecture.

The demonstration validated core 6G building blocks, including radio hardware, RAN Compute, software-defined air interfaces and cloud platforms. Ericsson said its software architecture is deployable across CPU and GPU hardware environments.

The trial used spectrum in the 7GHz range with 400 MHz carrier bandwidth and focused on uplink performance, energy efficiency and spectral utilisation. The system included Ericsson radios, baseband platforms and cloud-native software.

According to the company, the test demonstrated capabilities to support AI-driven applications, such as robotics, that require real-time control and high-quality video streaming. Future 6G networks are expected to deliver consistent low latency and enhanced uplink capacity for advanced AI services.

Ericsson said the milestone strengthens US participation in global standards development, including 3GPP and Open RAN. The company plans to expand trials across additional spectrum bands while building on its US research and manufacturing footprint.

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Deutsche Telekom and Nokia advance open and AI-native RAN

Nokia and Deutsche Telekom have expanded their collaboration to advance cloud-based, disaggregated, and AI-native RAN technologies. The strengthened Innovation Cooperation Program deepens joint work in Cloud RAN, open interfaces, and next-generation solutions.

The partnership builds on years of cooperation focused on open and flexible architectures. Both companies said the expanded effort aims to improve network efficiency, programmability, and long-term operational value for service providers.

Work on Open Fronthaul integration is being intensified following earlier multivendor deployments in Germany linking Nokia baseband units with O-RAN-compliant radios. Additional integrations covering Open Fronthaul and Cloud RAN are progressing within confidential development programmes.

The companies are also advancing O-RAN-aligned management capabilities through open O1 interfaces and deeper integration of configuration management. A vendor-independent Service Management and Orchestration platform remains central to Deutsche Telekom’s multivendor RAN strategy.

Nokia will act as Deutsche Telekom’s strategic co-creation partner for AI-native RAN development. Joint efforts will focus on AI-powered receivers, adaptive beamforming, predictive optimisation, and lab and field validation to support intelligent, autonomous mobile networks.

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Claude AI experiences temporary global outage

Anthropic’s AI chatbot, Claude, experienced a global outage, leaving users unable to access the platform. Visitors reported error messages indicating the system had broken down, though the company said it was working to resolve the issue.

The Claude API, used by other websites to integrate the chatbot, remained operational. Anthropic confirmed that the outage was limited to the Claude web interface and did not affect other integrations, emphasising that engineers were actively resolving the issue.

The outage, tracked by Down Detector, began around noon in the UK and affected users worldwide. Messages on the platform reassured users that Claude would return soon and that the problem had been identified and was being fixed.

The interruption comes at a sensitive time for Anthropic, as the company navigates heightened attention surrounding access to its Claude AI system. The situation unfolds amid broader discussions about the role of advanced AI tools in defence contexts, with industry players facing increasing scrutiny over their policies and partnerships.

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EU pressures Meta over alleged smart glasses privacy breaches

Lawmakers in the European Parliament are pressing the European Commission for clarity after reports that Meta’s smart glasses recorded people in intimate moments without their knowledge.

Concerns intensified when Swedish outlets reported that Ray-Ban AI glasses captured and uploaded sensitive footage in violation of strict consent requirements under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

The reports indicate that personal data from EU users was sent to Sama, a third-party contractor, in Kenya for human review. Annotators working there said they viewed images of individuals changing clothes and believed the recordings were taken without consent.

They added that Meta’s attempts to blur faces or apply other safeguards failed often enough to expose identifiable material instead of ensuring proper anonymisation.

EU privacy law requires clear information and consent before collecting and processing personal data, and additional safeguards when exporting data to countries without recognised adequacy status.

Kenya is still negotiating such recognition with the Commission, meaning contractual protections would be necessary.

The Irish Data Protection Commission, responsible for Meta’s GDPR oversight, has been contacted amid questions about whether Meta complied with EU requirements.

Lawmakers also want the Commission to examine whether proposed changes in the Digital Omnibus package could dilute privacy protections rather than strengthen them.

Critics argue the reforms might ease data-use rules for AI training at a moment when allegations about Meta’s smart glasses have intensified scrutiny of the EU’s broader digital policy agenda.

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