Discover-Tech Starlink ads made the company the No. 1 bidder on Starlink traffic in more than 100 countries, including several where the service itself is banned or restricted, according to researchers whose findings were reported by The Jerusalem Post and The Times of India. TrendAI, a unit of Tokyo-based cybersecurity company Trend Micro, concluded the Israeli ad tech firm was one of the biggest sources of digital ads shown to users of SpaceX’s Starlink and that the ads were likely being used to geolocate or otherwise surveil them, six people familiar with the matter said. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, and Discover-Tech and its chief executive did not respond over the past two weeks.
Key Takeaways
- Discover-Tech was the No. 1 Starlink ad bidder in over 100 countries.
- Conflict-zone bid patterns suggest tracking rather than commercial ads.
- Citizen Lab and Confiant said the ads ran on sensitive networks.
- Google, Comcast and others said they removed Discover-Tech.
How Discover-Tech Starlink Ads Dominated the Auction
Researchers drew on digital advertising data in TrendAI’s telemetry and found Discover-Tech had become one of the world’s leading bidders for ads aimed at Starlink users. TrendAI released a report on October 15 about the targeting but did not name the company, calling the responsible party an ad tech entity codenamed Shadow-Earth-79. The six sources said that codename is Discover-Tech.
TrendAI did not directly address why the report withheld the name. It said in a statement, as carried by The Jerusalem Post, that its approach to attribution was aimed at reducing the risk of mistakes and avoiding “hype-driven labels” or “unstable actor names that can mislead defenders, distort risk prioritization, and trigger inappropriate response actions.”
Conflict-Zone Bids That Commercial Demand Cannot Explain
The report cited suspicious bidding patterns and an “obvious skew” toward ads aimed at Starlink users. Shadow-Earth-79 was the top buyer of ads in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan, and the No. 2 ad buyer in Afghanistan, even though TrendAI wrote that “the demand for legitimate Western advertising in sanctioned or active-conflict states is effectively zero.” It won “an implausibly dominant share” of bids in Hungary, Israel, Egypt, Azerbaijan, and Venezuela.
Those patterns, the report said, suggested the entity was running “targeting and tracking infrastructure rather than a commercial advertising operation.” The Times of India noted that the findings do not by themselves establish the extent of any surveillance or prove that specific Starlink users were tracked.
| Market | Reported rank | TrendAI note |
|---|---|---|
| Starlink traffic, 100-plus countries | No. 1 bidder | Includes banned or restricted markets |
| Syria, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan | Top ad buyer | Western ad demand effectively zero |
| Afghanistan | No. 2 ad buyer | Same demand context as those states |
| Hungary, Israel, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Venezuela | Implausibly dominant share | Share called implausible in the report |
Why Governments Are Hunting Starlink Terminals
Finding ways to track Starlink users has become a cottage industry as governments try to get a grip on satellite internet terminals. Terminals route data through SpaceX-operated satellites rather than nationally regulated telecommunications firms, so they can sidestep local internet restrictions, communicate in hostile areas, or coordinate action across battlefields. Ukraine’s military relies on the service for frontline communications and directing drone strikes.
In May, Haaretz and Intelligence Online separately reported that Israeli-owned businesses were pitching clients on ways to identify and track Starlink users. Haaretz said exploiting ad data appeared to play a key role.
Bid Leakage, Platform Cuts, and a Withheld Name
The same day TrendAI published its report, Canadian cyber watchdog Citizen Lab and New York ad tech firm Confiant named Discover-Tech, The Jerusalem Post and The Times of India reported. The News International, citing Reuters, said Citizen Lab and Confiant had outed the firm for exploiting the ad-bidding process on sensitive networks. Both groups said the Israeli company abused that process, which can leak internet-user data back to the bidder. Over time, bidders can collect that leaked data, collate it, and merge it with other information to de-anonymize users, follow them around the web and, in some cases, set them up for targeting with surveillance software.
Citizen Lab and Confiant said the ads had been shown inside dozens of sensitive networks belonging to media organizations, governments, and tech firms. In response to the investigations, Google, Comcast, and other companies said they had removed Discover-Tech from their ad platforms. At least one big US tech company and one international organization recently launched internal inquiries into whether Discover-Tech’s ads targeted their employees, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The six people said TrendAI researchers were convinced Discover-Tech was behind the bidding and discussed naming the company. Five of the sources said they dropped that plan after executives raised legal concerns.
For buyers, a supply-path check follows. Analysis, not a new fact:
- Ask whether a bidder has already been removed by Google, Comcast, or other platforms.
- Question heavy wins on one cohort, such as Starlink users, in restricted markets.
- Treat buying where legitimate Western ad demand is effectively zero as a red flag.
