Japan Looks to Greenland, UAE Sets Social Media Age Limit, and Cuba’s Economic Shift

🇫🇷 France’s intelligence service is ending its contract with US tech giant Palantir. The current deal runs until 2028, but it’s not clear if it will end sooner. France picked local firm ChapsVision as a replacement.

Context: Europe is trying to reduce its reliance on US technology. Last month, German intelligence services also picked ChapsVision over Palantir for data analysis. At the start of June, the European Parliament replaced Google with Qwant as the default search engine on in-house computers.

🇯🇵 Japan is reportedly preparing to send a team of experts to Greenland this summer to explore possible rare earth extraction.

Context: Greenland has become a major focus for world powers because of its strategic location and potentially rich mineral reserves. Rare earths are crucial for electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, and military technology. The US government is currently in talks with Denmark about additional military bases in Greenland.

🇮🇱 Somaliland opened an embassy in Jerusalem. This comes after Israel became the first country in the world to recognise Somaliland as an independent state in December.

Context: Somaliland has a highly strategic location in the Horn of Africa. In November 2025, Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies published an article saying that “Somaliland could serve as a forward base for intelligence collection and monitoring of the Houthis and their military.” Project 2025 (the proposed policy playbook for the Trump administration) recommended that the US recognise Somaliland to compete with China’s influence in the region.

🇦🇪 The UAE has set the minimum age for social media use at 15. Teenagers aged 15 and 16 will be allowed to use social media, but with extra safeguarding features. Tech companies will also need to introduce age verification, including digital ID checks and AI-supported tools.

Context: Since Australia’s social media ban for under-16s took effect in December, several governments have already introduced similar rules (Malaysia) or pledged to do so soon (the UK, France, Greece, Spain, Denmark, and many others). However, not everyone is convinced. Italian Prime Minister Meloni doesn’t believe the ban would be effective, and Estonia has been a vocal critic of it since the discussion began. Check out my Zoom call with Estonia’s digital minister here.

🇨🇺 Cuba’s parliament approved major economic reforms. The measures would allow private real estate development and private banks to operate on the island. State-owned companies could also be turned into commercial businesses. Cuban leaders insist this doesn’t mean abandoning socialism.

Context: If implemented, this would be one of the biggest shifts in Cuba’s post-revolution history toward a market economy. Cuba is facing a severe economic crisis, made worse by the US energy blockade and the collapse of tourism. The Trump administration has made it a key goal to pressure Cuba into implementing economic reforms.

🇿🇦 The US government says it will stop funding HIV and Aids programmes in South Africa. South Africa has some of the highest HIV rates in the world - about 1 in 6 people live with HIV. Thanks in part to US funding, South Africa has made significant progress on HIV over the last 20 years. At one point, almost half of all deaths in the country were caused by the virus. That has now dropped to 20%.

Context: Relations between the two countries deteriorated after the US government accused South Africa of allegedly failing to protect the white Afrikaner community. South Africa’s government has repeatedly rejected those allegations. Trump has previously falsely claimed that there is a “white genocide” taking place in South Africa.

🇫🇮 Finland’s parliament voted to lift the country’s ban on nuclear weapons. Finland will be able to receive, transport, or help move nuclear weapons through its territory as part of defence operations. The proposal now needs to be approved by the president.

Context: Finland fought the Soviet Union twice during World War II. Finland lost both wars, but was never occupied by the Soviet Union. Today, it shares the second-longest European border with Russia. Given the history and today’s circumstances, it’s no surprise that after the invasion of Ukraine, Finland started rethinking its security. In 2023, it joined NATO, and last week it lifted its ban on nuclear weapons.

🇬🇧 The UK reportedly plans to make YouTube and Meta give more prominence to the BBC and other public service news. Ministers are unhappy that algorithms, controlled by foreign tech companies, are burying major British news. Supporters argue this would help tackle misinformation. Critics say forcing platforms to promote a small group of channels would be unfair to other creators.

Critical thinking exercise: Is this plan an effective way to tackle misinformation? Or is it a form of censorship? Once you’re done thinking, put both arguments on an imaginary scale and ask yourself which one outweighs the other.