Israeli Ad Firm Targeted Starlink Users in 105 Countries
The Facts
- Reuters reported Tuesday that researchers at TrendAI, a unit of Tokyo-based Trend Micro, concluded Israeli ad tech firm Discover-Tech was the leading bidder for ads shown to Starlink users in more than 100 countries, likely to geolocate or surveil them.
- TrendAI's Oct. 15 report attributed the activity to an entity it codenamed "Shadow-Earth-79" instead of naming a company. Five of the six sources said researchers dropped plans to identify Discover-Tech after executives raised legal concerns.
- TrendAI telemetry showed the entity won 12.9% of bids on observed Starlink traffic, compared with 2.6% across all traffic, and that it ranked first for Starlink traffic in 105 countries, including several where the service is banned or restricted.
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The Spin
Anti-Israel narrative
Turning ad auctions into a hunting tool is a chilling abuse of the internet, and journalists paid for it with spyware on newsroom phones. Satellite internet was supposed to be a lifeline in war zones and blackouts, not a map for intelligence-linked firms building target lists. Letting a surveillance-for-hire industry keep working without consequences only guarantees more victims.
Pro-Israel narrative
Satellite terminals that dodge every national network are a gift to militias and hostile armies, so knowing who is on the other end is basic security work. Ad auctions leak device data to every bidder by design, and that industry deserves more blame than one aggressive buyer. Suspicion built on bidding patterns, with researchers unwilling to name anyone, is thin ground for condemnation.
