Elon Musk’s planned SpaceX stock market flotation could make him the world’s first trillionaire, highlighting how investors are increasingly placing enormous value on companies that combine AI, communications infrastructure, space technology and long-term strategic ambition.

Why Musk Is Closing In On A Trillion Dollars

Elon Musk is already the richest person on the planet, thanks largely to his holdings in Tesla, SpaceX and other ventures.

Now, SpaceX has filed for what could become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in Wall Street history. Reports suggest the company could seek a valuation of between $1.25 trillion and $1.75 trillion when it begins trading under the ticker SPCX, potentially creating one of the most significant technology listings ever seen.

Musk is expected to retain a controlling stake in the business, meaning that a successful flotation could dramatically increase the value of his existing shareholding. Depending on the final valuation and how investors respond, his SpaceX stake alone could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, pushing his total net worth beyond the $1 trillion mark for the first time. However, the prospect of creating the world’s first trillionaire is only part of the story.

Why Investors Are Valuing SpaceX So Highly

At first glance, some of the numbers appear difficult to reconcile with the company’s valuation. SpaceX generated approximately $18.6 billion in revenue last year but also reported losses running into billions of dollars as it continued investing heavily in rocket development, satellite deployment, AI infrastructure and long-term research projects.

Traditionally, public markets have rewarded companies that delivered consistent profits and predictable earnings growth. However, it seems that today’s technology markets increasingly reward something different, such as ownership of strategic platforms that could dominate entire industries for decades to come.

That may help explain why many investors view SpaceX differently from a conventional aerospace company. The business launches rockets, operates the world’s largest satellite internet network through Starlink, owns AI assets through xAI, and controls communications infrastructure that reaches large parts of the globe. Taken together, these activities position SpaceX at the intersection of several major technology markets rather than a single industry sector.

In fact, for many investors, the company increasingly resembles a future technology platform rather than a traditional aerospace manufacturer.

Starlink Has Become A Major Business

One of the most important drivers behind SpaceX’s valuation is the growth of Starlink.

What began as an ambitious satellite broadband project has developed into a substantial global communications business serving more than 10 million customers worldwide. Its network of thousands of low Earth orbit satellites provides internet access across vast areas where traditional broadband infrastructure is difficult, expensive or commercially unattractive to build.

Unlike rocket launches, which tend to be project-based and irregular, Starlink generates recurring subscription revenue every month. Investors typically place a premium on businesses with predictable and repeatable income streams because they provide greater visibility over future performance.

Recent price increases across several Starlink consumer packages also suggest that demand remains strong, even as SpaceX continues investing heavily in expanding network capacity and improving services.

AI Is Becoming Part Of The SpaceX Story

The proposed IPO also reflects a significant change in the structure of Musk’s business empire.

SpaceX now owns xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which develops the Grok chatbot and a growing portfolio of AI technologies. As a result, investors are no longer being asked to back only a space company or communications provider. They are also gaining exposure to one of the fastest-growing and most heavily funded sectors in the global economy.

This matters because AI infrastructure is becoming one of the most valuable assets in technology. Major competitors, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta, are investing enormous sums to secure computing power, data centre capacity and AI capabilities.

SpaceX has already announced major agreements linked to AI infrastructure, while the integration of xAI gives the company a direct stake in the rapidly expanding market for generative AI. Taken together, these developments suggest the next major battle for investor capital could centre on AI infrastructure companies rather than traditional software firms.

The AI Giants Are Also Eyeing Wall Street

The timing of the SpaceX flotation is particularly notable because several of the world’s most valuable AI companies are also exploring public market listings. For example, reports suggest OpenAI is preparing a confidential IPO filing with advisers Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, potentially paving the way for a stock market debut as early as September at a valuation that could exceed $1 trillion.

The move has reportedly altered expectations around which AI company will reach public markets first, with prediction markets now favouring OpenAI ahead of Anthropic. If both companies ultimately proceed with listings, investors could soon find themselves choosing between some of the biggest AI and technology flotations in history, with SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic collectively representing several trillion dollars of potential market value.

The Risks Have Not Disappeared

All that said, none of this means SpaceX is a risk-free investment. For example, it cannot be ignored that the company remains heavily loss-making, carries substantial debt, and continues to spend vast sums on rocket development, AI infrastructure, satellite deployment and future projects that may take years to generate meaningful returns.

Many of its most ambitious objectives, including plans linked to Mars colonisation, remain years or even decades away from commercial reality. The IPO filing also highlighted a range of legal disputes, including intellectual property claims, regulatory issues and concerns surrounding AI-generated content.

There is also the question of governance. Musk is expected to retain overwhelming control of the company after the flotation, limiting the influence of outside shareholders. Supporters argue this allows SpaceX to pursue long-term innovation without being constrained by short-term market expectations, while critics believe it concentrates too much power in the hands of a single individual.

What Happens Next?

The flotation is expected to attract enormous investor interest. SpaceX has become one of the most closely watched private companies in the world, and many investors have spent years waiting for an opportunity to buy shares in the business.

The outcome could have implications far beyond Musk’s personal wealth. A successful listing would help establish a new benchmark for how public markets value companies that combine AI, communications networks, advanced manufacturing and critical infrastructure within a single organisation.

It could also arrive at a time when several of the world’s most valuable private technology firms are considering public listings. OpenAI is reportedly preparing for an IPO of its own, while Anthropic has also been linked with flotation plans, creating what may become one of the most significant periods of technology fundraising in modern market history.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The SpaceX story is not really about rockets, nor is it solely about Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire.

Instead, it offers a glimpse into how investors increasingly define value in the modern economy. Companies that own infrastructure, control data flows, generate recurring revenue and position themselves at the centre of major technological trends such as AI and connectivity are attracting unprecedented levels of attention and investment.

Whether SpaceX ultimately justifies its valuation remains to be seen. What is already clear, however, is that investors are increasingly willing to back businesses that promise to shape the future rather than simply participate in existing markets. As AI, communications and digital infrastructure become more tightly connected, the companies that control those foundations may become some of the most influential businesses of the next decade.

Spotify’s new AI-powered Studio app is the latest sign that technology companies increasingly believe personalised audio, rather than text or video, could become one of the most important ways people consume information in the years ahead.

Why Spotify Has Created Studio

Spotify has unveiled Studio by Spotify Labs, a new desktop application designed to create personalised audio content using artificial intelligence. The app can generate podcasts about specific topics, create daily briefings based on a user’s calendar and email, research subjects online, and save the resulting content directly into the user’s Spotify library.

For example, a user planning a road trip could ask Studio to create a personalised audio briefing that combines travel plans, calendar appointments, restaurant recommendations and podcast suggestions into a single listening experience.

Spotify describes Studio as “a standalone desktop app designed to create audio shaped around you”, reflecting a broader move towards highly personalised content rather than traditional one-to-many publishing. The company says the tool can connect to calendars, inboxes and notes, allowing it to create content tailored to an individual’s schedule and interests. As with many AI systems, Spotify warns that the technology can make mistakes and should not always be relied upon without verification.

The launch represents a significant expansion of Spotify’s ambitions. Rather than simply helping users find audio content, the company increasingly wants to create it as well.

Building On A Growing Trend

Although the concept may sound new, Spotify is not the first or the only company to experiment with AI-generated podcasts.

For example, Google’s NotebookLM popularised the idea of generating conversational audio summaries from documents and research materials. More recently, Adobe, ElevenLabs and several specialist startups have also introduced tools capable of creating podcast-style audio content using AI.

However, what makes Spotify’s approach different is the level of personalisation. Instead of generating audio from a set of uploaded documents, Studio is designed to combine information from multiple sources, including personal schedules and online research, to create content tailored to a specific user and situation.

Spotify’s longer-term ambitions may be best summed up by its statement that it is “no longer just responding to what you press play on” and is instead becoming “a service you can talk to, shape, and direct around your life”.

That observation helps explain why this announcement matters. It seems Spotify is no longer positioning itself primarily as a streaming platform. Instead, it appears to be moving towards becoming an AI-powered audio assistant capable of generating content on demand.

Amazon Following A Similar Path

Spotify’s announcement comes only days after Amazon introduced Alexa Podcasts, a feature that allows users to generate complete podcast episodes on demand using artificial intelligence.

Users can ask Alexa to create a podcast on almost any topic, with the system researching the subject, structuring the episode and presenting it through two AI-generated hosts in a conversational format. Amazon has also signed licensing agreements with more than 200 news organisations, including Reuters, the Associated Press and The Washington Post, to support future personalised news briefings.

The similarities between the two launches are difficult to ignore. Both companies are betting that people increasingly want information delivered through audio, while AI handles much of the research, summarisation and content creation behind the scenes.

What is emerging is a future where users may no longer search for information in the traditional sense. Instead, they may increasingly ask an AI system to create a podcast about it and then listen to the result while travelling, commuting or working.

Audiobooks Becoming Part Of The Picture

Spotify’s ambitions extend beyond podcasts. Alongside Studio, the company has announced a new audiobook creation tool powered by ElevenLabs, one of the best-known AI voice generation companies. The system will allow authors to generate narrated audiobooks using AI voices and publish them through Spotify’s platform.

The move builds on Spotify’s broader push into audiobooks, an area where the company has expanded aggressively in recent years. Spotify now offers hundreds of thousands of audiobook titles and says listening hours have increased significantly over the past year.

Taken together, Spotify’s podcast generation tools, audiobook initiatives and AI-powered discovery features suggest the company is building a comprehensive audio ecosystem where content can increasingly be generated, narrated and personalised by artificial intelligence.

The Lines Between Audio Formats Are Blurring

One of the more significant developments is that traditional distinctions between podcasts, audiobooks and news briefings are beginning to disappear. For example, historically, podcasts were created by podcasters, audiobooks were narrated books, and news briefings were produced by journalists and publishers. AI allows these formats to merge into something entirely different.

A user might ask an AI assistant to explain a business topic, summarise a report, discuss current events and provide personalised recommendations, all within a single audio experience that combines elements of all three formats.

As these tools become more sophisticated, the distinction between listening to content and generating it may become increasingly blurred.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The significance of Spotify’s announcement extends far beyond podcasts.

Businesses have traditionally relied on written reports, training documents, newsletters and presentations to communicate information. AI-generated audio creates the possibility of delivering personalised briefings, training content, compliance updates and business intelligence in a format that employees can consume while travelling, commuting or working.

The bigger story here is that audio is becoming programmable. Instead of choosing from content created by someone else, users are increasingly able to generate information products tailored specifically to their needs.

Whether this ultimately becomes a mainstream habit remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that Spotify, Amazon, Google and ElevenLabs are all investing heavily in the same idea. They appear to believe that the next major AI battleground may not be search, chatbots or video generation, but the ability to create personalised audio content on demand.

More than a decade after the failure of Google Glass, Google is returning to smart eyewear with a new generation of AI-powered glasses that could signal the beginning of a broader move away from smartphones and towards always-available digital assistants.

Why Google Is Trying Again

When Google Glass launched in 2013, it was widely seen as a glimpse into the future. However, concerns over privacy, a high price tag and limited practical usefulness meant the product struggled to gain mainstream acceptance before being withdrawn. Now it seems Google believes the technology landscape has changed.

At its I/O developer conference, the company unveiled new intelligent eyewear built around its Gemini AI platform. The first products, arriving later this year through partnerships with Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, will provide spoken AI assistance through discreet speakers built into the frames.

Google says the glasses are designed to provide “help in the moment without taking you out of it” while allowing users to “stay hands-free and heads up”.

Those phrases may sound like marketing language, but they reveal something much more significant about Google’s ambitions.

The Smartphone Is The Real Target

The new glasses are not simply another wearable gadget. In fact, Google appears to be positioning them as a new way of interacting with technology that reduces reliance on phones and screens. Instead of taking a device out of your pocket, opening an app and navigating menus, the idea is that users can simply ask Gemini for help.

Google says the glasses can provide navigation, send messages, summarise missed communications, translate speech and text, take photographs and even complete multi-step tasks such as ordering coffee through connected services.

This reflects a much broader trend across the technology industry. Increasingly, major companies are trying to make AI more accessible by embedding it into everyday activities rather than requiring users to open dedicated apps.

In effect, Google seems to be attempting to make Gemini a constant companion rather than a destination.

Why It Could Be Different This Time

One of the biggest challenges facing Google Glass was that the technology simply was not ready. For example, voice assistants were relatively basic, artificial intelligence was far less capable, and many of the features people expected from smart glasses were either unreliable or unavailable. However, today’s environment looks very different.

Modern AI systems can understand natural conversation, translate languages in real time, recognise objects and locations, summarise information, and perform increasingly complex tasks. The arrival of Gemini gives Google a much more capable platform to build around than was available a decade ago.

As Google explains on its blog, users will be able to “ask questions about the world around you” and request help executing tasks on their behalf.

In many ways, the AI revolution may have solved the biggest problem Google Glass faced: giving people a compelling reason to wear it.

Meta Has Already Proven There Is Demand

Google is also benefiting from something it lacked the first time around, which was evidence that consumers are willing to wear smart glasses.

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have reportedly sold around seven million units, demonstrating that there is a growing market for eyewear that combines cameras, microphones, speakers and AI capabilities.

That success has encouraged a growing number of competitors to enter the market. Snap is expected to release new smart glasses, Apple is reportedly developing its own products, and several other technology firms are exploring similar concepts.

What was once a niche category is increasingly becoming one of the industry’s most closely watched battlegrounds.

Gemini Is The Real Product

Although much of the attention will focus on the glasses themselves, the real story is arguably Gemini. It could be said that the glasses themselves simply provide Gemini with direct awareness of a user’s surroundings.

By combining cameras, microphones, location information and AI reasoning, Google is creating a system that can understand what a user is seeing, where they are, and what they may need help with at that moment. That creates possibilities that extend well beyond voice assistants.

Whether helping someone navigate a city, understand a foreign-language menu, identify a landmark or complete a task without touching their phone, the glasses effectively become a delivery mechanism for Gemini’s intelligence.

There Are Still Privacy Questions

Despite the technological advances, some familiar concerns remain. For example, the original Google Glass generated significant criticism because people were uncomfortable with the idea of being recorded without their knowledge. Similar concerns have emerged around Meta’s smart glasses, which can capture photos and video in public spaces.

Google has so far focused its announcements on features and functionality rather than detailed privacy safeguards. As adoption grows, questions around consent, data collection and the use of AI-enabled cameras are likely to become increasingly important.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Google’s latest announcement is about far more than just smart glasses. The company is actually signalling its belief that AI assistants are gradually moving beyond phones, laptops and web browsers into the physical world. Instead of opening applications and searching for information, users may increasingly rely on AI systems that understand their surroundings and provide assistance in real time.

Hands-free access to navigation, translation, customer information, scheduling, messaging and AI assistance could make these devices particularly useful for mobile workers, engineers, delivery drivers, field service teams and healthcare staff. Rather than stopping to check a phone or laptop, employees could receive information, complete tasks and interact with business systems while continuing with their work. As AI capabilities improve, smart glasses could also support workplace training, remote assistance and customer service, potentially helping organisations improve productivity and reduce friction in everyday processes.

Whether smart glasses ultimately replace smartphones remains uncertain, and questions around privacy, security and workplace policies will need careful consideration. What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that Google, Meta, Apple and others all believe the next major computing platform will place AI much closer to the user. If they are right, businesses may soon need to think not only about how employees use AI on screens, but also how they use it while moving through the real world.

New research suggests that while AI is helping employees work faster, many businesses are creating a new layer of digital busywork that is eroding much of the productivity they hoped to gain.

The Rise Of The Copy And Paste Economy

Artificial intelligence is often presented as a tool that removes repetitive work, eliminates inefficiency and gives employees more time to focus on higher-value tasks.

However, according to new research from Workday, many organisations are discovering that AI can create new forms of work as well as eliminate existing ones. The company’s study of 2,400 UK professionals found that employees are increasingly spending large parts of their day moving information between disconnected systems, checking outputs and acting as the link between AI tools that do not naturally work together.

The result is what Workday calls the “copy/paste economy”, a workplace where workers spend significant amounts of time transferring information between applications rather than focusing on the work those applications are supposed to support.

According to the research, as many as one in four UK employees reported spending more than seven hours each week moving information between systems and reconciling data. More than eight in ten said they spend significant time coordinating work between teams, moving information between platforms or resolving conflicting data from different systems.

Employees Like AI More Than Many Assume

One of the most surprising findings in the report is that employees are not rejecting AI. In fact, the vast majority appear to be positive about both their jobs and the technology itself. Workday found that 97 per cent of UK employees rate their day-to-day work positively, while 81 per cent said AI has improved their work experience. More than half said AI has reduced task completion times, and 45 per cent reported that it has accelerated their work in a productive way.

Those findings seem to challenge the popular narrative that workers are resisting AI adoption. Instead, the research suggests that many employees are eager for AI to help them work more effectively. The problem is not the technology itself, but how organisations are deploying it.

When Faster Tasks Don’t Create Faster Work

Many businesses have introduced AI tools to help employees write documents, summarise information, answer questions or generate content.

Those capabilities can certainly save time on individual tasks, but the challenge is that work rarely consists of isolated tasks.

For example, information often needs to move between departments, applications, approval processes and business systems before a job is complete. If employees still need to manually transfer data between those systems, much of the productivity benefit can disappear.

As one IT director quoted in the report explained: “Dealing with system glitches, chasing approvals and constantly fixing or redoing work because of inconsistent data, it keeps me busy, but doesn’t feel like real progress.”

That distinction between activity and progress is central to the findings. Employees may be working hard, but much of their effort is spent compensating for fragmented systems rather than creating value.

The Human Middleware Problem

Workday’s report uses a particularly revealing phrase to describe what is happening. Many employees have effectively become “the glue” holding disconnected systems together. Rather than technology handling the flow of information automatically, workers are manually transferring data, reconciling inconsistencies and coordinating between applications. This is increasingly becoming one of the hidden costs of AI adoption.

Businesses may deploy multiple AI tools across different departments, but if those systems cannot share information effectively, employees become the human middleware connecting everything together.

One construction industry director quoted in the report described the impact of this fragmentation, saying: “My day often feels busy but not genuinely productive when I’m pulled into constant coordination tasks and system-related issues that interrupt focused, high-value work.”

The irony is that many organisations have invested in AI to reduce administrative work, only to create new administrative burdens elsewhere.

Why Embedded AI Performs Better

The research also points towards a solution. Only 23 per cent of UK organisations have deeply embedded AI into their core business systems and workflows. Most have instead added AI around the edges of existing processes.

According to the report, employees are already showing organisations how they want AI to work: “integrated directly into workflows, proactively surfacing insights and handling coordination in the background.” The difference appears quite significant.

For example, among organisations with AI integrated into core systems, 57 per cent of employees reported task reductions of 25 per cent or more. Where AI was not embedded into core systems, that figure fell to 39 per cent.

Workday argues that the most successful organisations are moving beyond task-oriented AI and towards workflow-oriented AI. Instead of simply drafting content or answering questions, AI becomes part of the process itself by monitoring activity, routing approvals, surfacing insights and coordinating work in the background.

This mirrors a wider trend emerging across the technology industry. Google’s Gemini Spark, Microsoft’s Copilot agents, OpenAI’s growing agent capabilities and Anthropic’s workflow automation initiatives all point towards a future where AI handles increasingly complex coordination tasks rather than individual requests.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The Workday research suggests many organisations may really be asking the wrong question about AI. Instead of focusing on whether a particular tool can save five minutes on a specific task, leaders may need to ask whether the overall process requires fewer steps. If employees are still copying information between systems, reconciling conflicting data and manually connecting workflows, the organisation may be automating tasks without truly improving productivity.

Perhaps the most important finding in the report is that employees appear ready for a different approach. As Workday concludes, employees increasingly expect AI to be “embedded, intelligent and invisible in the flow of work”, adding that “The new work day is not AI assisting with existing work, but work redesigned around what AI and humans each do best.”

That may prove to be one of the most important lessons of the AI era. The biggest gains are unlikely to come from adding more AI tools. They are more likely to come from redesigning how work flows through the organisation in the first place.

Google’s latest wave of AI announcements reveals a company that is moving beyond chatbots and search results, towards a future where AI agents actively perform tasks, manage information and work alongside users throughout the day.

Why Google’s Latest AI Updates Matter

At first glance, Google’s latest announcements appear to be a collection of unrelated AI features. For example, there is:

– Gmail Live, which allows users to search their inbox using natural conversation.

– Google Pics, an AI-powered image generation and editing tool.

– Gemini Omni, a new multimodal model capable of generating and editing video.

There are updates to AI Inbox, along with a new AI agent called Gemini Spark. However, when viewed together, a much clearer picture emerges.

Google is increasingly focused on moving AI beyond answering questions and towards taking action on behalf of users. In other words, the company is attempting to transform AI from a tool that provides information into a digital workforce that helps people get things done.

The Rise Of The AI Agent

Perhaps the clearest example of this strategy is Gemini Spark. Google describes Spark as a “24/7 personal AI agent” that can help users manage their digital lives, take action on their behalf and integrate with Workspace applications such as Gmail and Docs. The system runs on dedicated cloud infrastructure, meaning it can continue working even when a user’s laptop or phone is switched off.

According to Google’s announcement, Spark “helps you navigate your digital life, takes action on your behalf and is under your direction.”

This is significant because it moves beyond the traditional chatbot model. Instead of waiting for a user to ask a question, Spark is designed to complete longer-running tasks and manage activities across multiple applications.

The launch also places Google directly into competition with similar agentic AI offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which are pursuing the same vision of autonomous digital assistants.

Search Is Becoming Something New

The wider shift towards AI agents is also reshaping Google’s core business. For more than two decades, Google Search has largely revolved around helping users find information through lists of links. Increasingly, that model is changing.

Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode already provide direct answers to many queries, while upcoming features will introduce information-gathering agents capable of monitoring topics, tracking changes and presenting synthesised updates automatically.

This represents a major change in how information is discovered online. Instead of manually searching for information, users may increasingly rely on AI systems to find, monitor and summarise it for them.

For businesses that depend on website traffic, search visibility or content marketing, this trend is likely to become increasingly important.

Gmail Is Becoming An AI Knowledge Assistant

Another notable development is Gmail Live, which allows users to ask questions about their email using natural language.

Rather than searching for keywords, users can ask questions about flight details, appointment times or information contained within previous conversations. Gmail Live then searches the inbox and presents an answer conversationally.

Google says these new voice capabilities are designed to help users “brainstorm, organise your thoughts and get things done”.

Although this may appear to be a relatively small feature, it reflects a broader shift in how software is being designed. Instead of users learning how applications work, AI increasingly learns how users work.

Google Wants AI To Create As Well As Assist

It seems the company’s ambitions also extend beyond productivity and information management.

For example, Google Pics introduces AI-powered image generation and editing directly into Workspace, allowing users to modify individual objects, translate text within images and collaborate on visual projects without leaving Google’s ecosystem.

Google says the goal is to make image creation feel like “creative direction, not a roll of the dice”.

Alongside this, Gemini Omni expands Google’s generative capabilities into video. The model can combine images, video, audio and text as inputs while allowing users to edit videos through natural conversation. Google describes Omni as a system “where Gemini’s ability to reason meets the ability to create”.

Taken together, all these developments suggest Google increasingly views content creation as a conversational process rather than a collection of separate software tools.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The most important takeaway here is that Google’s announcements are not really about email, images or video. Instead, they reveal a company that is systematically embedding AI into every stage of digital work. Search is becoming more agentic, email is becoming more conversational, content creation is becoming more automated, and AI assistants are becoming more capable of taking action independently.

For businesses, this could create significant productivity opportunities. For example, it may mean employees spend less time searching for information, organising documents, drafting communications and creating content. At the same time, organisations that rely heavily on search traffic may need to prepare for a future where AI increasingly intermediates the relationship between users and websites.

Whether Google’s vision ultimately succeeds remains to be seen. What is already clear, however, is that the company believes the next phase of AI will involve systems that do far more than answer questions. Increasingly, they will be expected to carry out work on behalf of the people using them.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that London’s Metropolitan Police requested communications data from technology companies more than 700,000 times during 2025, highlighting the scale of modern digital surveillance.

The requests covered mobile networks, email providers and online services. Although they generally did not involve message content, they could include metadata such as account details, IP addresses and contact records.

The figures also showed a nearly 500 per cent increase in requests to Lyca Mobile, while data was sought from services including Proton, Signal, Uber and Deliveroo. Some privacy-focused providers disputed aspects of the figures.

For businesses, the findings are a reminder that metadata can reveal a great deal about people, communications and behaviour, making data governance and privacy controls increasingly important.