Chinese state-linked hackers breached mobile phones at "the heart of Downing Street" amid a global cyber-espionage campaign over several years targeting telecommunication networks, according to reports.

U.S. officials first alerted its allies in 2024 after finding out that hacking groups had gained access to telecom companies around the world, according to The Associated Press.

The campaign reportedly targeted multiple countries, including the U.S. and the other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The breaches allegedly gave China access to the phone data of millions and the possible ability to eavesdrop on calls, read text messages and track users’ locations.

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The hackers also had the ability to record calls "at will" according to Anne Neuberger, who was a deputy U.S. national security adviser between January 2021 and January 2025, The Telegraph reported.

Neuberger said that the "Chinese gained access to networks and essentially had broad and full access," giving them the capability to "geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will."

U.S. intelligence agencies believe the breaches date back to at least 2021, but they were only identified and disclosed by U.S. authorities in 2024.

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In 2024, The Associated Press reported that U.S. federal authorities urged telecommunication companies to boost network security. The guidance, issued by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was to help root out the hackers and prevent similar attacks in the future.

A joint cybersecurity advisory was issued in August 2025, with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and allied partners warning that Chinese state-sponsored actors were targeting networks globally.

"The malicious activity outlined in the advisory partially overlaps with cybersecurity industry reporting on Chinese state-sponsored threat actors referred to by names such as Salt Typhoon," an NSA release said.

In the U.K., officials raised concerns that senior government figures may also have been exposed. One source told The Telegraph that the breach went "right into the heart of Downing Street."

MASSIVE TELECOM BUST IN MAJOR CITY IS ‘WAKE-UP CALL’ AS FOREIGN ADVERSARIES THREATEN US SECURITY: EXPERTS

Similarly, The Telegraph was told that there were "many" different hacking attacks on the phones of Downing Street staff and across wider government, especially when Rishi Sunak was prime minister between 2022 and 2024.

Yuval Wollman, a former Israeli intelligence chief, also told The Telegraph that Salt Typhoon was "one of the most prominent names" in the cyber-espionage world.

"While much of the public reporting has focused on U.S. targets, Salt Typhoon’s operations have extended into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where it has targeted telecoms firms, government entities and technology companies," Wollman of cybersecurity platform CyberProof added.

In the past, China’s foreign ministry dismissed the claims as "baseless" and "lacking evidence," according to The Telegraph.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Downing Street for comment.

What is real? How do you define “real”? Because for anyone paying even a slight modicum of attention, 2025 didn’t come anywhere close. More like 2025 got fired and replaced by AI.

In a world where we can’t seem to remember what we had for breakfast two days ago anywhere, where we’re drowning in a neverending sea of information that has now been flooded with a new type of ersatz on top of what was already so unbelievable and so unreal, I thought perhaps we could benefit from a documentarian’s eye on just what happened last year. The idea was to look at the disintegration of our already corrupt society in its present form but concurrently with the rise of the tech based upon when each clip or story was first posted. I bookmarked stuff throughout the year and took as much care as possible to try and look up each clip (even the TikToks) so the dates were correct by month for this (although I did rearrange them puzzle-like within the month so the connections would hopefully be more apparent).

I probably don’t have to tell you we just lived through a hell of a year. Truly, all the veils are down now. As Morpheus famously asked Neo in one of my favorite films of all time, ever: “What is real? How do you define ‘real’?” The veils are all the way down now.

Just a couple days ago, Elon Musk said “We have entered the Singularity”. I believe the film I just made illustrates that he is 100% correct. The singularity is a theoretical point where current models of human understanding break down leading to radical transformation… but, in alchemical terms, no renewal can happen without going through that stage (as ugly and painful as it is).

I just hit record on the fat bag of crazy being dumped on society right now and this is what came out.

Lately it feels like we’re tottering on a razor’s edge between the next dimension and the abyss, with a new psyop practically every other day to keep us all fighting amongst ourselves, good and distracted from seeing anything for what it really is. I’ve thought for a long time that everything seems so psychological, but that description doesn’t really encompass the depths of what is happening here.

Because this is spiritual. This whole protracted period could rightfully be described as spiritual warfare. So that’s what I’ve decided to talk about.

I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my thoughts by the way. I hope they help you. I hope we help each other.

We’ve been warning about this system for over a decade and now we are seeing the attempt to implement it.

Digital ID is the foundation for a cage unlike anything humanity has never known. Once we go in, we won’t come back out.

I made this hour-long video on all the reasons why we MUST reject this Orwellian nightmare and I hope you will share it far and wide so people can understand why we must reject this now, while we still can.

Social media companies have removed access to millions of accounts belonging to children in Australia in the first month since the country’s historic ban took effect, requiring platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to identify and deactivate users under the age 16.

Access was revoked for roughly 4.7 million users, according to Australian officials, who on Friday touted the early success of the law, which was enacted in mid-December amid fears surrounding the impact of online environments on young people.

"Today, we can announce that this is working," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a news conference. "This is a source of Australian pride. This was world-leading legislation, but it is now being followed up around the world."

Under the law, 10 social media giants — Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and YouTube — must locate and deactivate accounts of Australian users under the age of 16. The companies face fines of up to $33 million if they don’t take "reasonable steps" to remove underage users.

AUSTRALIAN MOTHER CALLS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AGE RESTRICTIONS AFTER DAUGHTER'S SUICIDE

"We stared down everybody who said it couldn’t be done, some of the most powerful and rich companies in the world and their supporters," said Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells. "Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhoods back."

According to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, there are roughly 2.5 million Australians between the ages of 8 and 15, with about 84% of 8- to 12-year-olds having at least one social media account. While the total number of accounts across platforms is unknown, Inman Grant said the number of deactivated or restricted accounts was encouraging.

"We’re preventing predatory social media companies from accessing our children," she said at a news conference.

NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICAN VOTERS BACK SOCIAL MEDIA BAN FOR KIDS UNDER 16, FOX NEWS POLL SHOWS

Critics of the new ban have argued that it will be difficult to enforce, and Inman Grant acknowledged that there are still some active underage accounts.

"We don't expect safety laws to eliminate every single breach. If we did, speed limits would have failed because people speed, drinking limits would have failed because, believe it or not, some kids do get access to alcohol," she said.

She added that based on data reviewed by her office, there was an increase in downloads of alternative apps after the ban began, but not a spike in usage.

Social media platforms can verify age by either requesting copies of identification documents, using a third party to apply age estimation technology to an account holder’s face, or making inferences from data already available, such as how long an account has been active.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said earlier this week that it had removed nearly 550,000 accounts belonging to users it believed were under the age of 16 just one day after the ban began.

While the law was popular among parents and child safety campaigners, online privacy advocates and groups representing teenagers largely came out against it.

FRANCE REPORTEDLY PLANNING TO BAN CHILDREN UNDER 15 FROM SOCIAL MEDIA STARTING 2026

Other countries have weighed similar measures in step with Australia, and some American lawmakers have also signaled their interest in pursuing social media restrictions in the U.S.

"I think we ought to look at what Australia’s doing, for example, requiring access to these social media platforms to not be available to anybody under the age of 16," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said last month.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., previously said that "protecting children is an avenue that should be pursued."

"I won’t rule out some sort of limitation in sales or distribution or use of those devices… Parents and grandparents need a helping hand; this is getting out of hand," he said.

Fox News Digital's Nora Moriarty, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

The British government intensified its crackdown on AI-generated sexual abuse Monday after ministers confirmed a possible ban on Elon Musk's social media platform X amid a widening probe and with the company potentially incurring hefty fines.

The dramatic move follows the launch of a formal investigation by Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, into whether X breached its legal duties under the U.K.'s Online Safety Act and came after reports that the platform’s built-in AI chatbot, Grok, was used to generate and share sexualized deepfake images of women and children.

Grok was launched in 2023 but its image generator feature, Grok Imagine, was added in 2025 with a specific mode to generate adult content.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall described the recent use of the AI tool being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images as "deeply disturbing." 

Kendall also warned that social media companies would be held accountable if they failed to act.

UK PM STARMER–PRAISED EGYPTIAN EXTREMIST FACES COUNTER-TERROR PROBE OVER RESURFACED TWEETS

"I welcome Ofcom’s urgency in launching a formal investigation today," Kendall said, according to Reuters. "It is vital that Ofcom complete this investigation swiftly because the public – and most importantly the victims – will not accept any delay."

In a separate statement shared later Monday, Kendall said the Grok AI tool had been used to create and circulate degrading, non-consensual intimate images.

"No woman or child should live in fear of having their image sexually manipulated by technology," she said before adding, "The content which has circulated on X is vile. It is not just an affront to decent society, it is illegal."

Kendall added that sharing or threatening to share deepfake intimate images without consent, including images of people in their underwear, constitutes a criminal offense under U.K. law.

LAWMAKERS UNVEIL BIPARTISAN GUARD ACT AFTER PARENTS BLAME AI CHATBOTS FOR TEEN SUICIDES, VIOLENCE

She warned that Ofcom has the authority to issue "fines worth millions of dollars" or penalties of up to 10% of a company’s qualifying worldwide revenue.

"But X does not have to wait for the Ofcom investigation to conclude," Kendall said. "They can choose to act sooner to ensure this abhorrent and illegal material cannot be shared on their platform," she warned.

Ofcom had said it "urgently made contact" with X on Jan. 5, demanding explanations about the steps being taken to protect U.K. users and setting a response deadline of Jan. 9.

While xAI, another company founded by Musk, responded, Ofcom said it decided to open a formal investigation after reviewing the available evidence "as a matter of the highest priority."

In a statement shared Monday, Ofcom said, "Reports of Grok being used to create and share illegal non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material on X have been deeply concerning."

"Platforms must protect people in the UK from content that’s illegal in the UK, and we won’t hesitate to investigate where we suspect companies are failing in their duties, especially where there’s a risk of harm to children," the statement said.

OPENAI TIGHTENS AI RULES FOR TEENS BUT CONCERNS REMAIN

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the chatbot acknowledged in a public post on X that it had generated and shared an AI image depicting two young girls in sexualized attire, calling the incident a "failure in safeguards" and apologizing for the harm caused.

Amid mounting criticism, Grok confirmed it has begun restricting some image-generation and editing features to paying subscribers. The chatbot said the limitations were implemented to prevent further misuse.

Musk also accused the U.K. Government of "fascism" Monday for "arresting thousands of people for social media posts."

The billionaire Tesla founder had responded to a post on X that claimed the country arrests more people for social media posts than "any other country on earth." 

Alongside the Ofcom investigation, the U.K. government announced that legislation criminalizing the creation of non-consensual intimate images generated by AI would come into force this week.

Kendall said responsibility does not rest solely with individuals.

"The platforms that host such material must be held accountable, including X," she said. 

If they do not act, she said she is "prepared to go further."

Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesperson said the government’s presence on the platform was "under review" and that "all options are on the table."

The Associated Press also reported Monday that Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Elon Musk and Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office for comment.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

This right here, by the way, is why we’re making this film. It’s time people remember where we are before America disappears forever.

I guess from my last vid you already knew that this video was forthcoming as soon as I could finish editing it. This is admittedly a 30-min rant, but I believe it’s packed with all the reasons why what we’re seeing unfold in DC is not only unprecedented, but a dark portend for America’s future. Mass civil unrest is obviously coming in the not-too-distant future or they wouldn’t be gearing up for it so damn hard.

None of the excuses I’m seeing even remotely begin to make this “okay”. What is happening isn’t okay at all, but it’s definitely being normalized at breakneck speed. This is some praetorian guard under the Roman Empire level stuff going on.

Or a return to a king. People want a king so bad? Maybe they’ll get their wish and then they will finally remember why having a king was so bad in the first place.

History keeps repeating because people refuse to finally learn it already! It’s beyond sad to watch people lick the very boot Orwell warned us about.

Deep gratitude to Catherine Austin Fitts and The Solari Report for this honor.

We are humbled.

Via The Solari Report:

They told us liberty was a finished story. That the battles were won, the rights secured, and the system stable. But what if that was never the full picture? Over the last six years, we followed a trail that led us across continents and centuries. What we uncovered wasn’t just a different version of history — it was a missing one. A story of forgotten principles, buried symbols, and the true roots of freedom that stretch far deeper than schoolbooks or modern soundbites ever reveal.

This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a warning. And it’s also a call.

Liminality is the result of that journey. A feature-length film from Truthstream Media that exposes what’s been hidden in plain sight and why it matters right now — at a time when rights are being quietly traded for convenience, and freedom is being reshaped in the image of control.

The world is changing fast. Rights are being chipped away in the name of safety. Governments increasingly serve corporate masters, while digital systems quietly tighten their grip on everyday life. All the while, we’re being told we’re still free.

But history reminds us that people have stood up before. They saw the signs. They pushed back. And they reclaimed what was theirs by natural right.

That’s what Liminality is about. It’s a story that was nearly lost, but urgently needs to be remembered. At this point we’ve carried this project as far as we possibly can on our own. Every mile traveled, every archive visited, every hour of footage — it’s been fueled by our own time, energy, and savings. We’ve done it because we believe what we found here really matters to humanity’s future going forward. Now, to bring it across the finish line, we need your help.

Finishing this film means filming a few more scenes, attempting two more interviews if we can get them, covering the final editing of what will essentially be two films that make a larger whole, licensing rare historical material, scoring the soundtrack, and finally, making it available to people everywhere who need to see it. There’s no studio behind us. No corporate sponsors. Just two independent researchers wearing all the hats who are committed to telling the truth as clearly and fully as we can.

If this message speaks to you — if you believe history still holds answers worth uncovering — we’re asking you to stand with us and be part of bringing this film to life.

If you believe liberty still matters…
If you believe history holds lessons we’re in danger of forgetting…
If you believe this story needs to be heard…

Then please support us finishing this film today. The Indiegogo campaign explaining the full project and offering DVD and USB preorders and donations to the cause is here:

And thank you so much for standing with us.

In truth and liberty,

Aaron & Melissa Dykes
Truthstream Media

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN TO RAISE FUNDS AND PRODUCE THIS FILM! PREORDERS + MORE INFO HERE: https://igg.me/at/liminality

History can show us where we are headed by where we have been. It is our deepest concern that Europe is in a ferment, and America is on the point of bursting into flames.

We have never more pressingly required the Patriot-senator, the wise and honest Counsellor, than the desolating conquerors now at the gates. Our absolute disdain of inadequate ministers and contemptible salary hunters has by no means impaired our sense of the dignity of a Free Human, or the importance of defending our Rights against the determined invasion of the most formidable powers on earth.

No one can divine what long now has been the condition of the creatures of those detestable corporate councils which have filled America, Great Britain, and the rest of the world with a high and universal discontent — Has almost unhinged our commercial and political and personal connections — Has annihilated the Constitutional legislature of this Realm and turned our Representative Houses into a paid guard — And endeavored by pitiful art and emissaries to effect what usurped and stretched authority dared not to pursue.

Can any of us now, at this late hour, wish to abandon our lives, properties, and minds to such rapine and plunder? To become traitors to that sacred Constitution which for ages has been the Citadel of our own safety? To walk off willingly to the end without a bang or even a whimper?

America was founded upon the concepts of English Liberty, the ancestral knowledge of which we inherited as descendants of descendants of Great Britain. This Liberty, which is actually universal in nature, is the heart and spirit of a much older, Ancient Constitution.

In seeking out the first principles of our American Bill of Rights, which we have diligently undertaken these past six years, it has been made clear this was not just an afterthought tacked on in the aftermath. It was, ultimately, the whole point — to transfer the germ of Liberty from Ancient Albion and transplant it anew, purified from the tyrannies that sought to utterly destroy it.

The film which we now endeavor to produce covers our grand tour across two continents, ten countries, more than a dozen interviews, and required us to go back two thousand years in deep research and heavy contemplation. But we are just two people, and as much as we hate asking anyone for help especially in these times (and have tried as hard as we can never to do so), we are going to ask for your help in bringing this film to life at this time when it is so desperately needed. This story does not belong to us alone. It belongs to all of Humanity.

We are once again being called upon to acknowledge fellow citizens for absolute sovereigns — that we may remind them by our shared history that our nations were founded upon inalienable Rights given to us by our Creator which may not be removed or revoked by pen or by code. They can only be willingly given up, which we have no intention of doing now, nor in whatever future is currently being built for us like a digital cage.

It has been nearly 250 years now since a bunch of royal subjects who were reduced to absolute despotism rebelled and redefined what government is and from whence it ultimately derives its legitimate authority. Those subjects-turned-revolutionaries transformed into Americans, and the spirit of Liberty rippled out and changed the world.

It is time once again to remind everyone that our Rights are inherent and ought to be recognized once again for what they are — the root of our common law heritage and image as Free Humans. Otherwise, we may be readily reduced to absolute despotism.

History may be cut into pieces, buried, and all but forgotten — but it has a way of being remembered and resurrected.

We must walk the past to reach the future.

Your humble Friends in Liberty,
Aaron & Melissa Dykes
Truthstream Media