Social Media

As Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrated his election victory on Sunday in Sao Paulo, he placed his hand on the head of a man standing beside him and beaming in a green and yellow Brazilian football jersey.

Lula thanked him for his role in the campaign, calling him “our general”.

Andre Janones, a 42-year-old Brazilian congressman who had spent the final weeks of the presidential run-off building a mass online movement to get Lula re-elected, then embraced the president.

“He played an exponential role in this campaign in lifting the morale of our troops every day, morning, noon and night,” Lula told thousands of supporters who packed Paulista Avenue, the city’s main artery.

Just three weeks earlier, the president seemed to be in trouble. He had finished behind his right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro after the first round of voting, his campaign struggling to keep up with the right’s powerful social media operation.

Janones, who had also helped coordinate Lula’s digital operation in his run-off against Jair Bolsonaro in 2022, was convinced Lula’s campaign needed a change – and that he could help turn things around.

He posted a video declaring, “We are going to win this election. Lula will be re-elected president of Brazil.”

His plan centred on a WhatsApp channel he had launched months earlier.

Called Exercito do Lula, or “Lula’s Army”, it had about 60,000 followers after the first round.

By election day, Lula’s Army had grown to almost 11 million subscribers, with Janones widely credited with helping Lula stage his comeback.

How Andre Janones built Lula’s WhatsApp army

Janones is a lawyer and congressman who grew up in a working-class family in Minas Gerais. He made a name for himself through his social media commentary during Brazil’s 2018 truckers’ strike and was elected to Congress that year.

In 2022, he dropped his own presidential bid to endorse Lula, joining his run-off campaign.

“At the time, he became widely known for employing tactics similar to those used by Bolsonarism, despite operating on the left,” said Viktor Chagas, a professor at Fluminense Federal University who studies digital politics and online campaigning.

Janones coined the term “cultural Janonism” to describe his approach, which relied on urgent messages, memes and calls for supporters to take action, as well as what Chagas described as the occasional use of negative campaigning and “content of questionable origin”.

But the scale of Lula’s Army in 2026 was unprecedented, Chagas said.

In the video declaring that Lula would win, Janones urged supporters to enlist as “soldiers” by posting saluting emojis and joining his WhatsApp channel, where he assigned them what he called “missions”.

The tasks were simple, from recruiting three friends to sharing campaign videos to promoting hashtags.

They came in a relentless stream of messages from Janones himself, often written in capital letters. Supporters couldn’t reply, but they could forward the messages or react with emojis, often doing so in the tens of thousands.

Chagas described the strategy as a form of “electoral gamification”, with Janones setting targets for supporters to reach together.

For Andre Pagliarini, an assistant professor of history and international studies at Louisiana State University and the author of a book on Lula, the appeal of Janones’s approach was giving people something they could actually do to help Lula win.

“It became an organising platform that grew exponentially because it spoke to a desire that many Lula supporters evidently had to do something tangible to defeat Flavio Bolsonaro,” he said.

How Lula’s campaign changed its message

But the path to victory wasn’t just about mobilising supporters online.

Pagliarini credited the campaign for also finding a more effective way to tell the story of the president’s working-class past.

“The campaign’s mistake in the first round was to present this history as a finished monument, worthy of admiration but distant from the lives of the people it was meant to represent,” he wrote.

After Bolsonaro mocked the president for having nine fingers during the final televised debate, for example, Lula responded by recalling how he lost a finger at 17 while working a night shift at a factory. He then linked his experience to workers injured as a result of employers’ negligence.

“Unlike Flavio, he reminded voters, he knew the world of work because he had lived in it,” said Pagliarini.

After the debate, Janones spread the message online, promoting the hashtag #SomosTodos9Dedos, or “We Are All Nine Fingers”. Supporters shared the slogan, with some posting photographs of their own amputated fingers in solidarity.

Janones had also publicly called for simpler, less polished campaign videos that showed a more relatable side of Lula, drinking coffee, visiting people’s homes and talking to ordinary Brazilians. Around the same time, the campaign started posting more informal, selfie-style videos.

“Lula was looser in his political communication, less mediated,” Pagliarini said.

Did Lula’s WhatsApp army help him win?

It is difficult to establish whether Janones’s digital army actually delivered votes.

“I am not sure there is a way to empirically connect the group to the outcome,” Pagliarini said.

But he believes Janones helped turn the campaign around.

“Janones himself became a kind of character in the campaign, a cheerleading strategist who seemed confident in a plan that had been missing throughout much of the race,” wrote Pagliarini.

Chagas agreed that it was “difficult to imagine the outcome we achieved without Lula’s Army”, adding that the channel brought together left-wing supporters who had previously been scattered across fragmented online communities, and gave them a way to work together.

The challenge now is keeping that momentum going, Chagas said, pointing to the far right’s use of “permanent campaigning”, maintaining the engagement of supporters between elections.

On election night, at least, Janones kept his soldiers busy.

“EVERYONE TO PAULISTA TO CELEBRATE,” he wrote, urging them to gather on Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue. “NOW.”

Later, he asked them not to go to sleep, adding that he’d let them go once he got back from the celebrations.

“Then we’ll discuss a few days off for you,” he joked in a message that drew more than 225,000 reactions.

KATIE Price is continuing to fuel rumours she has secretly got back together with her conman ex-husband, as she flashed her huge engagement ring again.

The couple have been estranged since the summer, with Katie, 48, telling The Sun that she had dumped Lee Andrews, 43, after becoming fed up with his lies.

But over the last few weeks the pair of them have been dropping clues that they have secretly reunited.

While her ex, Lee, has been sharing cryptic messages, Katie has been suggesting they are back together by putting her sparkling engagement ring back on her wedding finger.

The Sun reported last week that the TV star was spotted wearing the huge bling again, and in latest social media posts, the ring has remained firmly on her left hand.

In a video posted on Snapchat from Sunday morning, Katie can be seen flashing the huge diamond rock.

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Then in a new Instagram post of the star wearing a fur coat, the ring is in full view for all to see.

It comes after Lee has also dropped several clues he is back with his famous wife.

Last Friday, the former jailbird was spotted liking Katie’s post about her son Harvey, 24.

Then the next day, Lee posted a cryptic love poem, suggesting they were getting back together.

The Sun previously revealed that Katie ended their marriage via WhatsApp last month.

It came after she found out he had been lying to her and had just £2.22 in his bank account.

DAVID Beckham has showed off his ripped torso in a shirtless snap from New York City – and made a subtle nod to his estranged son Brooklyn.

Brooklyn let loose on his family in a scathing social media post in January, with things remaining tense ever since.

David shared the stunning snap on Instagram, which showed him standing topless on a NYC balcony with his morning coffee.

In later posts, he revealed he was having dinner in Brooklyn — the place his son was named after.

This appeared to be a subtle nod to Brooklyn as his mum Victoria discovered she was pregnant there with him.

Brooklyn said at the start of the year that he did “not want to reconcile” with his family, and accused his parents of “controlling” the narrative.

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His initial statement read: “I have been silent for years and made every effort to keep these matters private.

“Unfortunately my parents and their team have continued to go to the press, leaving me with no choice but to speak for myself and tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed.

“I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.”

He then went on to recall the night of his wedding and how his mother danced in an “inappropriate way”.

Brooklyn also sent his parents David and Victoria a legal notice warning they can now contact him only via lawyers.

The extraordinary “desist” letter also instructed them not to “tag” him on social media.

Things then led to Brooklyn snubbing his father’s Hollywood star unveiling in June.

Just this month, Brooklyn let his shirt do the talking as he ramped up his family feud once more.

The telling ­message on Brooklyn’s top read: “It’s not clocking to you.” 

It refers to pop star Justin Bieber’s 2025 paparazzi meltdown, when he complained: “It’s not clocking to you I’m standing on business.” 

The singer meant photographers were not understanding he was busy and wanted to be left alone. 

CHRISTINE McGuinness left little to the imagination as she stripped off for a bath.

The model, 38, took to her Instagram account to share a video of her enjoying some downtime during a recent hotel stay.

Christine filmed herself in a robe as she walked towards the mirror in her room at the Meliá White House in London.

She then filled her bathtub with hot water, dropped her robe to the ground and stepped into the bath with her back facing the camera.

Christine captioned the post: “Solo System Season is going extremely well.

“Enjoying my body, bank and bath on an unapologetic, unavailable and uncompromising level because my solo system needs this on prescription!

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“Especially at ‘The Level’ suites @themeliawhitehouse. No sharing and no caring.

“DND for the foreseeable.”

Fans rushed to the comments section to share how incredible she looked.

One said: “You look amazing Christine

“Gorgeous as always,” a second chimed in.

A third added: “Sensational.”

A fourth simply wrote: “Wowzers.”

LEE Andrews has continued to hint that he’s back with Katie Price with a cryptic love poem – as she’s seen wearing her wedding ring again.

The latest piece of the puzzle comes just days after the conman was spotted liking Katie’s post about her son Harvey.

The couple have been estranged since the summer, with Katie telling The Sun that she had dumped conman Lee after becoming fed up with his lies.

But recently, there have been clues they have secretly got back together, and today it was Lee‘s turn again.

It comes after Katie was spotted with her ring back on, hinting at a reconciliation with her jailbird hubby.

Now, Lee has posted a poem which reads: “There’s something about her eyes which f**** with my head.

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“And don’t give me that mascara or makeup bulls***.

“Makeup’s got nothing to do with it. You can’t buy a look like that at a f***ing beauty counter.

“Those eyes are a drug. Devastating. Beautiful. And I can’t get clean.”

Katie had previously spoken about how she had started wearing her engagement ring on her right hand instead of the left after the split.

But she has now swapped it back to her left wedding ring finger – as she continues to fuel speculation that she is back with Lee.

The TV personality was seen emerging from a nail salon after a pampering session with the ring firmly back on her finger.

The Sun previously revealed that Katie ended their marriage via WhatsApp last month after finding out he had just £2.22 in his bank account.

We then told how the former glamour model is bracing herself for a “messy” divorce battle with her ex as the conman vowed to return to the UK.

But just days after scrubbing all his images from her Instagram page in a subtle swipe, she appeared to have given him grace on social media.

Eagle-eyed followers spotted how the mum of five is re-following his account and Lee, who previously erased her from his page, is doing likewise.

Lee was recently released from the notorious Al Awir prison after a four-month stint, but is now eyeing up flying back to his home country.

The conman launched a Go Get Funding page this month in a bid to collect bail cash so he can return to Britain.

And as Lee vows to fly back to England, Katie is understood to be “naturally worried” that Lee will come after her money, in what could be one of showbiz’s messiest divorces.

IT was the end of a perfect summer in the South of France, but within days of returning to the UK, Chloe Khan’s world came crashing down.

Almost all of her incredible designer collection of bags and shoes was stolen, in what she believes could have been a targeted attack.

And now two weeks on, the 35-year-old, who first rose to fame on X Factor, is no closer to finding any of her items – despite offering a £10k reward for information.

But Chloe, who believes she lost £400k of designer clothes in the robbery, has vowed to continue shopping and sharing her glam life online.

“I am a materialistic person and I do love beautiful stuff, but at the same time my family’s all healthy and happy,” she said.

“They’ve already taken all my physical items off me, they’re not going to take my personality off me as well.

“That’s what I enjoy posting, that’s my lifestyle post, I’m not going to wear an average outfit.”

Speaking for the first time about the devastating blow, Chloe, who lives in Belgravia with her private businessman boyfriend, said: “I was completely wiped out.

“It was around £400k worth of stuff – it was like my lifelong collection of stuff. I took everything over so that my closet was nice over there.”

The items included a pink Birkin bag, worth £30k, another orange Birkin, a Christian Dior Himalayan Lady Dior worth £26k, as well as numerous luxury items and one- off pieces that have never been worn.

Chloe travelled back to England via train so her beloved pomeranian pooch could be with her  – while her driver was tasked with bringing her belongings back via car.

She loaded up the car with five cases full to the brim with her expensive wardrobe, but three days after she arrived home there was no sign of her items. 

“I presumed it was still in transit. But it turns out after arriving back in the UK our driver parked the vehicle near to where he lives instead of my home. 

“Without me knowing that my items were already back in the UK, he left the car there, the vehicle there for three days in a car park that says ‘do not leave valuable items’ and the car was smashed into and everything was taken.”

Her valuables were later found in a field a mile away from the car park by a dog walker, who managed to track Chloe down.

The police were contacted and CCTV showed a car entering the carpark around the time the robbery was expected to have taken place. No arrests have been made. 

It’s been incredibly difficult for Chloe to deal with and has left her questioning her driver.

She said: “I’ve been really suspicious of the driver, but he’s worked for my boyfriend for 23 years, they’ve got a really close relationship.

“The whole family all really trusted him, but the day after it happened, the driver resigned the same day. There was no apology, not even an ‘oh my God, are you okay?’  

“So obviously at the time I thought I had clearly been set up here.

“But now after speaking with my boyfriend and his family – we think he’s mentioned to someone he’s bringing all this stuff over and I think they’ve targeted it.

“The information has got to the wrong person. So I think it’s more of a loose lips, stupid situation. Regardless, it’s just such a neglectful thing to do and it was so avoidable by him.”

Chloe has been dating her boyfriend for the past year but is yet to reveal his identity. 

She decided to share news of her robbery on social media in the hope she could retrieve some of the items.

But Chloe came under fire from trolls who told her “you deserve it for sharing all your stuff online”.

It didn’t deter the star though and the next day she headed to Harrods to try and build up her collection once again. 

Unfortunately she didn’t have the right insurance, which means she’s been unable to claim any money back.

Speaking to me as they holidayed in the Serengeti – in the same villa Jeff Bezos stayed in the week before – she said: “I don’t think this has happened because of what I share online although I do know obviously it can make you a big target to share stuff like that online.

“What it has done is give me a trauma about suitcases to be honest because just a few days before this my daughter was in France travelling with my Louis Vuitton suitcase and it was stolen. 

“I just never want to see a suitcase again and I also don’t want to transport my stuff from place to place.”

Despite everything she has been through, Chloe isn’t letting it put a damper on her incredible life. 

“I’ve actually surprised myself how I’ve dealt with it because I’ve not cried once, I’ve not actually let it get me down,” she said.

Chloe has come a long way from when she first appeared on TV back in 2009 on the BBC Three show Snog, Marry, Avoid. 

But it was the following year that the star – who went by the name Chloe Mafia – really became a household name.

In 2010, she auditioned for the X Factor and warbled her way through Summertime and a Shakira song – and got through to boot camp.

But she was kicked off the show after admitting she’d stayed up all night partying.

A few other reality TV shows followed and Chloe – who had her daughter Destiny when she was just 16 – went on to earn millions through a webcam business.

During lockdown she was earning $700k a month on OnlyFans, which she gave up last year when she met her man.

Reflecting on her success, she said: “It just feels like a completely different life.

“It doesn’t feel like two chapters of one book, it feels like two separate books.”

Now Chloe and her daughter, who is now 18, spend their days travelling the world in luxury.

She describes her little girl as a ‘stay at home daughter’, while she is a ‘spoilt girlfriend’ and is enjoying every second of it.

It’s also meant she has been able to move on from the robbery – with a very positive outlook.

“I thought to myself the other day – there are people in life that have struggles, some people might struggle with mental health or some people with actual physical health conditions or some people might have financial difficulties,” she said.

“For me, for some reason, mine is that I always get robbed. And I think if that’s my worst thing in life then my life’s actually quite good then, because it could be so much worse.

“When I got the news that all my stuff had been robbed I thought, do you know what, at this exact same minute someone’s got the news that they’ve got a month to live. Being robbed is not the worst thing in the world yet, it’s s**t. But it’s happened before and I’ll start again.”

KENDALL Jenner has sparked further rumors she’s feuding with sisters after snubbing a second major family event this week.

After the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show snub earlier this week, Kendall, 30, has seemingly snubbed someone else in her famous family.

Last night, Kim Kardashian held a huge birthday bash to mark her 46th.

All of the SKIMS founder’s loved ones were in attendance, spotted as they attended the event.

But Kendall was nowhere to be seen, and fans have clocked it.

An eagle-eyed social media user on Reddit said: “@KendallJenner not going to Kim’s birthday…Really girl?”

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“Kendall must be fighting with Kylie and everyone, first she skips the VS show and now this,” noted one person in the comments.

“I think she just didn’t wanna do the pap walk,” said a second.

“There is no way Kendall is not seething at Kylie being in the show,” one person suspected in a popular Kardashian family Reddit forum at the time.

But Kendall did acknowledge her younger sister’s fashion show stint.

She reposted of Kylie strutting her stuff down the runway, writing: “My perfect baby sister.”

A statement was then shared with Page Six.

“Kendall thought Kylie absolutely killed it,” a source told the outlet.

“Even though Kylie has some runway experience, she still asked Kendall for a few tips ahead of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.”

Class action could be first in Australia to blame social media for harming its users.

Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are facing a class action lawsuit in Australia over allegations that addictive design features are harming children and teenagers.

The lawsuit, filed by MinterEllison in the Australian Federal Court, seeks to recover compensation for current and former users of Facebook and Instagram who claim they were exposed to harmful content or developed an addiction to social media as a result of using those platforms, the law firm said in a statement released on Thursday.

“This proceeding raises important questions about the design and operation of social media platforms and their impact on children and teenagers in Australia. Those questions will now be considered through the Federal Court process,” MinterEllison Partner William Nolan said in the statement.

The class action suit was filed on behalf of eight plaintiffs who allege they were harmed by Meta while they were below the age of 18.

In a suppression order on Monday, the court prohibited the reporting of any information that could reveal their identities and the statement of claim.

“We are aware of this claim and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” a Meta spokesperson said.

Litigation Lending Services said it was funding the class action for Australian families who “would have no practical means of pursuing these claims against a global technology giant”.

The lawsuit comes amid rising tensions between Australia and Big Tech after a world-first ban on social media for children below 16 in 2025, and newly proposed rules that could let users switch off algorithm-driven content on their feeds.

Meta agreed in August to pay $18bn to settle with nearly all US states to resolve claims that it designed social media to addict children.

Both candidates for the Brazilian presidency have called for the disqualification of their rivals over allegations of social media interference, ramping up political drama ahead of the close-fought October 25 runoff election.

Brazil’s right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro has requested the annulment of the candidacy of his rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, over what he called unlawful propaganda.

Lawyers for Bolsonaro filed a request with the Superior Electoral Court on Tuesday, alleging Lula’s “abuse of power” in the mass dissemination of government postings during the campaign period via WhatsApp.

Bolsonaro’s camp claimed the Brazilian government sent mass messages to millions of Brazilians via the messaging service, promoting social programmes, benefits and government initiatives in the midst of the presidential race, Brazilian media reported.

The request to the electoral court seeks to declare Lula and Social Communications Minister Sidonio Palmeira ineligible to hold public office for a period of eight years.

‘Algorithmic manipulation’

In the other camp, Lula’s campaign said on Tuesday that it would request the disqualification of Bolsonaro on Wednesday over alleged election interference by WhatsApp parent company, the tech giant Meta.

Lula’s petition, which has yet to be officially filed, alleges “algorithmic manipulation” by Meta aimed at harming Lula’s chances of winning, a campaign source told AFP.

The electoral court had given Meta 24 hours on Monday to prove it was complying with an order to treat both campaigns equally, threatening a daily fine of around $200,000 if it didn’t.

The order came after Lula’s campaign alleged that Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, was suppressing his online content to boost Bolsonaro.

“We have completed the implementation of the measures to comply with the Superior Electoral Court’s decision,” the company said on Tuesday.

Lula and Bolsonaro are locked in a heated presidential race after the right-wing candidate, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, won the initial round of voting earlier this month with 47 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 45 percent.

Polls show a very close race ahead of Sunday’s runoff round.

The messages, reported by a Brazilian daily, say the platform recommended Bolsonaro’s profile and his WhatsApp channel.

Employees at Meta have acknowledged in internal communications that the Instagram accounts of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were negatively affected by restrictions during the country’s election, media reports say.

The messages, reported on Friday by Brazilian daily Folha de S Paulo, also acknowledged the platform recommended the profile of Lula challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as well as his WhatsApp channel. Folha, the Sao Paulo-based paper, cited messages it had reviewed.

Meta told the Reuters news agency that the technical issues cited in the report were already public and the conversations it referenced related solely to the severity of the issues, not political interference.

“Any suggestion that Meta favors one side is false,” it added in a statement.

Lula, the left-wing incumbent, will face right-wing challenger Bolsonaro in a presidential runoff on October 25, following a stronger-than-expected performance by the senator in the first-round vote earlier this month.

Friday’s report came on the heels of a Brazilian court ruling on Thursday that ordered Meta to immediately adopt measures to provide equal treatment of the two candidates ahead of the runoff.

The ruling by a judge in Brazil’s top electoral court was made shortly after Lula filed a complaint that accused the tech giant – which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp – of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favour opposition candidate Bolsonaro ahead of the election.

Justice Marco Aurelio Bellizze ruled that Meta cannot reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between Lula and Bolsonaro. His ruling also orders the company to ensure its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both candidacies.

Bellizze said in his ruling that Meta must pay a fine of 500,000 reais ($98,700) per day if it fails to comply.

According to Lula’s party, some of his posts appeared without a share button and had reduced reach. Options for reactions, sharing, audio or accelerated speed were also missing.

Just visiting a page or refreshing an app can be enough to fall victim to a malware attack in which your personal data is stolen from a laptop or phone, researchers have found. You are not even required to “click” on anything.

An Israeli spyware firm has been found to be behind the first-known instance of “zero-click” targeted advertising in which fraudsters or spies can steal private data and send it to external servers, with Al Jazeera journalists among the victims.

In June 2025, 45 devices used by Al Jazeera staff – including several who reported on sensitive subjects – were targeted with spyware which installed itself without the need to open or download any files.

An investigation by the Canada-based academic research unit Citizen Lab, prompted by Al Jazeera’s initial internal probe into the issue, discovered that the Israeli company Candiru was behind the attacks.

Analysts say the findings are “incredibly concerning”, as they confirm the existence of a new global security threat. “We knew we were headed in this direction and now it is out in the public,” Remesh Srinivasan, professor of information studies at the University of California in Los Angeles, US, told Al Jazeera.

“This is the next level, because people are being microtargeted,” he said. “This is the point we’ve come to when it comes to surveillance.”

How ‘zero-click’ malware works

Al Jazeera’s in-house technology team first discovered unusual patterns on devices used by some journalists in 2024. Analysis of network logs provided to the Citizen Lab by Al Jazeera in 2025 provided a clear temporal signature of how the attack was executed.

Malicious advertisements were bought by Discover-Tech, an Israeli company presenting itself as a legitimate advertising firm, but which actually operates as a facilitator for mercenary spyware partners.

Its advertisement network identified Al Jazeera staff, then quietly redirected them to an infected server belonging to Candiru. The spyware firm was blacklisted by the US government in 2021, when Citizen Lab found it was responsible for the illegal hacking and surveillance of at least 100 activists, journalists and political activists across 10 countries.

Al Jazeera Media Network has condemned the targeting of its staff members’ devices and called for those responsible to be held accountable.

Cybersecurity analyst and author Eddy Willems said the advertisements used automatically infect devices the moment they pop up on the screen, but there is an important technical nuance. “Executing code inside the browser does not automatically give an attacker full control over the computer,” Willems told Al Jazeera.

“To escape the browser’s isolated environment – the ‘sandbox’ – the attacker may need a second vulnerability,” Willems said, adding that an advanced spyware operation can combine several vulnerabilities.

“The attacker attempts to exploit vulnerabilities to bypass security boundaries. This is precisely what makes this type of attack so dangerous,” the analyst said.

Once the device is infected, the malicious software is designed to collect a wide range of sensitive data, including files, documents, and browser data such as cookies, bookmarks, and saved credentials.

It can also capture keystrokes, take screenshots, record microphone and webcam input, and extract emails and messages from popular communication platforms. To avoid triggering security mechanisms, the spyware often uses encrypted communication channels and breaks up stolen data into smaller chunks sent over time.

Advertising: A new global security threat?

Analysts say Citizen Lab’s findings point to the escalation of an existing threat, which expands the scale and reach of traditional cyberattacks and makes them much harder to detect.

While “zero-click” attacks are not completely new, the findings outline a new technique through which online advertisements are used as a route to infection.

Stephen O’Shaughnessy, a lecturer in cybersecurity at the TU Dublin Blanchardstown campus in Ireland, explained that when a user opens a website or app, an automated auction sells the advertisement space in a fraction of a second. That auction shares data about the victim, including the device ID, IP address, rough location and the app or site they are on.

“Discover-Tech posed as an ordinary advertiser, used that data to find their target and win the auction for that person’s screen,” O’Shaughnessy told Al Jazeera. “Anyone with a phone or browser that shows ads can be reached, without the attacker needing their phone number or email.”

“Because no message or link is involved, there is almost nothing for the victim to notice,” he added.

Discover-Tech appeared on lists of “certified” and “approved” vendors maintained by Google and advertising industry association IAB Europe, and has served advertisements via major networks such as Google, Yandex and Beeswax.

In its report, Citizen Lab said this illustrates the structural flaws in the online advertising system, which essentially failed to detect or prevent the abuse.

Discover-Tech advertisements have popped up on devices used by personnel in national-security-sensitive networks around the world, including those of various ministries of defence, armed forces, national cyber agencies, intergovernmental organisations and media outlets, Citizen Lab found.

The research unit said these advertisements have also appeared on networks used by the United Nations, NATO, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union’s General Secretariat.

‘Almost nobody was watching’

Government networks have also been targeted in at least 24 countries, including the United States, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Australia, Russia, Mexico and Israel itself. Networks of media organisations have also been targeted, mainly in Australia, Denmark and Sweden, according to Citizen Lab.

In a separate report, New York-based advertising security firm Confiant said its own investigations had found that some of Discover-Tech’s advertisements also appeared in critical networks used by the Pentagon, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Criminal Court.

O’Shaughnessy said infection has not been confirmed there – only profiling of users. “But that alone is concerning, he said. “The ad system was built to send code from strangers to billions of screens with pinpoint targeting. Almost nobody was watching it from a security angle.”

The analyst said the risk remains low for most people as these attacks are expensive and aimed at specific targets. “For individuals at high risk, like journalists and officials, the best first defence is to install an ad blocker, switch off their advertising ID through their phone’s privacy settings, keep everything updated, and turn on Lockdown Mode or Android’s Advanced Protection,” he said.

Precautions also need to be taken within the industry and at government level. “To combat this, the ad industry needs to properly vet who’s buying ads,” O’Shaughnessy said, while “regulators need to stop personal data being sprayed out to thousands of unknown bidders in every auction.”

Mexico will require the digital platforms to protect minors from violent and sexual content.

Mexican ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠President Claudia ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sheinbaum signed a presidential decree requiring digital platforms, including TikTok, Meta and X, to protect children from violent, sexual and other harmful content online.

The decree establishes that digital platforms must, by design, restrict exposure to content involving violence, harassment or sexual abuse, as well as immediately remove any risky material from the profiles of minors.

Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that the government would back legislation to penalise companies that fail to implement the decree.

“If no progress is made, it would become a law,” she told a news conference on Tuesday.

“The goal is for digital platforms to take on some of the responsibility and refrain from disseminating, promoting, or spreading content related to this type of information — including criminal acts or violent behaviour,” Sheinbaum had said earlier when she indicated she would introduce the decree.

The decree comes after an attack by two 18-year-olds on their former high school in the northern ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌state of Coahuila in early October that killed one and wounded three others.

Digital platforms will have one month to comply with the decree, government adviser Luisa Maria Alcalde said.

Officials said they had already discussed the matter with representatives of social media outlets and streaming platforms such as Meta, Microsoft, Apple, TikTok, Google, X and Huawei.

Last August, Meta, for example, agreed to pay an $18bn settlement in a major US federal case accusing it of endangering children, and was forced to introduce new safety features to platforms including Instagram and Facebook. The lawsuit alleged Meta had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠retaining, and using personal data from children under 13 without proper parental consent.

Mexico’s move follows a broader global push to protect minors online, with governments in Europe and Australia tightening oversight of digital platforms and US states pursuing a range of child-safety measures.

Brazil has also moved to strengthen protections for children online. Such measures have raised questions over how to protect minors while safeguarding privacy and freedom of expression.

EAMONN Holmes’ girlfriend Katie Alexander stripped off to a bikini and posted about ‘knowing her worth’ after moving out of the star’s flat.

Just days ago The Sun exclusively revealed that the relationship counsellor had cleared out her things of his rented £1.3million property in Surrey.

The pair started dating back in May 2024 and within a few months we reported how Katie had moved into Eamonn’s home.

But Katie has since moved out as Eamonn recovers from a stroke.

Katie recently took to Instagram to share some stunning selfies with her followers.

One included her looking out into the distance in a plunging blue top, and some others from her travels.

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Katie wrote: “There is a quiet kind of strength in becoming comfortable with who you are.

“No longer needing to prove, explain or seek validation – just choosing peace, protecting your energy and finding beauty in the life you creating.

“Softness is strength. Peace is luxury. And knowing your worth changes everything.”

She captioned the post: “Starting with yourself.”

It is understood that Northern Irishman Eamonn’s family is now looking after his financial affairs.

The revelation comes days after it was reported that Eamonn would not be returning to his job hosting GB News’ breakfast programme, although the channel’s bosses have denied the claims.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: “Katie is still very much together with Eamonn and in love, but she’s moved out of the flat.

“It’s an incredibly sad situation — she loved it there and the time they spent together making it home.”

“Katie has been Eamonn’s rock and lifeline since he fell ill. She’s willing him to get back to full fitness and get their lives back on track.”

It is not clear where wheelchair-user Eamonn will be staying when he leaves hospital.

Mum-of-three and relationship counsellor Katie lives in West Yorkshire but has been splitting her time between there and the Surrey flat.

Eamonn was previously married to Ruth Langsford between 2010 and 2024.