TrendAI and Citizen Lab: ad auctions tracked Starlink users in 105 countries

TrendAI found that an entity coded SHADOW-EARTH-79 won 12.9% of Starlink-associated ad impressions versus 2.6% on general traffic; Reuters linked it to Israeli ad-tech firm Discover-Tech. Citizen Lab documented its Controlium platform and the AdFection technique for de-anonymizing users via banner ads. No compromise of Starlink terminals has been confirmed.

• SHADOW-EARTH-79 won 12.9% of Starlink ad auctions versus 2.6% on average traffic
• It led Starlink bidding in Syria, Libya, Yemen and South Sudan, and ranked second in Afghanistan
• Observed win shares reached 91.3% in Argentina, 89.1% in the Philippines and 82.6% in Japan
• Citizen Lab tied 45 Al Jazeera devices to Candiru spyware via ad-based delivery