Australia hits out at deepfake scourge - Asian Tech Roundup

Plus: US blocks more exports to China and seeks 25% tariff on all smartphones not made in-country

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at Australia’s first fine for deepfakes, the increasingly fraught trade war between the US and Asia, and a Vietnamese click farm that’s exploiting X’s lax security.

Deepfakes are becoming an increasing problem as they become more convincing and cheaper and easier to create. They are being used by cybercriminals to impersonate executives, by fraudsters to fool people into giving away their money and by everyday trolls who get a kick from bullying and intimidating people online. In Japan deepfake abuse is rife, according to voluntary and support groups, with large volumes of sexualised deepfake school photos appearing on social media. In response to this threat, Australia is pushing for a maximum fine of $450,000 for a man who posted deepfake images of prominent Australian women, in the first case of its kind in the country. “Apps make it simple and cost-free for the perpetrator, while the cost to the target is one of lingering and incalculable devastation,” said the country’s eSafety commissioner.

The tariff wars rumble on, with reports that the US wants to impose a 25% import tax on all smartphones not made in the US, which would mean all phones produced by Samsung and Apple despite their moves to diversify, and new restrictions on tech-related goods licensed for export to China.

Australia

• Adelaide residents have voted overwhelmingly in a council poll against selling land for the construction of a new Tesla factory. Source
• A man who posted “intimate” deepfake images of well-known Australian women faces a fine of up to AUS $450,000 under the country’s Online Safety Act. Source

China

• The US has moved to curb the shipment of goods including software and chemicals for semiconductors, butane and ethane, machine tools, and aviation equipment to China. Source
• DeepSeek quietly released an update, R1-0528, to its R1 reasoning model, uploading it to Hugging Face. It has yet to announce the new capabilities or comparisons with other models. Source
• Nvidia will launch a new AI chipset for China at a significantly lower price than its recently restricted H20 model, to try to rebuild market share in China whilst complying with US export curbs. Source
• Xiaomi has reported record first quarter results. Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was 111.3 billion yuan ($15.48 billion), up 47.4% year-on-year. Xiaomi is the world's third-largest smartphone maker, and manufacturer of home appliances extend to home appliances and EVs. Source
• In contrast, Chinese e-commerce firm PDD Holdings – owner of TEMU - missed estimates for first-quarter revenue, as its domestic platform is battered by gloomy consumer sentiment and its international business was hit by global trade uncertainty. Source
• China launched a space mission called Tianwen-2 to return samples from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid to Earth before moving on to explore an object between Saturn and Jupiter. Source

India

• Apple’s exports to the US from India increased 76% year-on-year in April, while those from China decreased by almost exactly the same percentage. Source
• Bengaluru is officially one of the world’s leading technology hubs, employing more than a million tech workers and joining the ranks of cities like San Francisco, New York, and London, as per CBRE’s newly released Global Tech Talent Guidebook 2025. Source
• India’s government has urged tech companies to remove dark patterns, design features that nudge consumers into taking actions they would not otherwise have taken, form their platforms in the spirit of enlightened self-interest. Source
• Google has officially launched direct online sales for its Pixel lineup, the first time Indian consumers can buy direct from the company. Source
• Mumbai-based LTIMindtree has announced a collaboration with Saudi oil firm Aramco, forming an IT services company to accelerate digital transformation in Saudi Arabia. Source
• The Bombay High Court granted bail to an engineering student who published a post critical of the Maharashtra state government, calling her arrest "absolutely shocking" and saying she had been treated like a "hardcore criminal". Source
• Meanwhile the Software Freedom Law Centre, India is challenging the authority of the Delhi Police to issue social media takedown orders. Source

Japan

• Japanese mobile phone operator NTT Docomo is looking to buy SBI Sumishin Net Bank, a specialised Internet bank, continuing a trend of telecoms companies buying financial institutions. Source
• Researchers from Japan Space Systems (JSS) successfully beamed energy from a speeding jet to antennae on the ground confirming the potential viability of low orbit solar farms beaming power to the Earth. Source
• Sexual deepfake images and videos targeting children and women are rapidly spreading across Japan, say support groups. Source

South Korea

• The US government has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on all phones not made in the US including Apple and Samsung. Source
• Chipmaker SK Hynix is seeking to recruit top talent from Silicon Valley. Source

Taiwan

• Foxconn, best known as an Apple device assembler, is seeking to diversify into the automotive industry and is set to announce a partnership with a second Japanese car maker alongside Mitsubishi. Source
• Chipmaker TSMC is to set up its first European design centre in Munich. It will be focused on the automative sector. Source

Elsewhere in Asia

• Vietnam: X’s “Creator Revenue Sharing Program,” supposedly a way for premium users to earn money on the social media site, has been abused by a Vietnamese click farm with funds funnelled to hundreds of fraudulent accounts. Source
• Malaysia, Indonesia: Microsoft launched new cloud regions in Indonesia and Malaysia. Source