Senior researcher John Scott-Railton told the Guardian and TechCrunch that the finding “makes it impossible to dismiss [the case] and immediately raises serious questions about why no confirmation was surfaced in prior official investigations by the Italian authorities.”

The post Italian Prosecutors Confirm Journalist Was Hacked with Paragon Spyware appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Digital transnational repression refers to the use of digital technologies by governments to surveil, intimidate, and silence human rights defenders living in exile or the diaspora.

The authors note that bodies such as the OHCHR should identify and document acts that fall under this definition, characterize them as human rights violations, and assess the responsibility of state and private actors involved.

The submission draws on previous Citizen Lab research examining methods of repression and impacts on victims.

The post Submission to the OHCHR: Protecting Human Rights Defenders in the Digital Age appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Governments can currently buy and use personal data for warrantless surveillance, but Christl warns that the risks intensify if data is “fed into opaque and often dysfunctional AI systems, where errors, bias, and lack of accountability can magnify the harm.”

The post OpenAI Blurs Its Mass Surveillance Red Line With New Pentagon Contract appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Digital transnational repression refers to the tactics that states use to reach across borders to silence dissent among diaspora members, for example by hacking the phones of victims, or spreading false rumours about them online. 

Gendered transnational repression refers more specifically to the use of digital technologies to target women human rights defenders and activists outside their countries of origin, in which gender is deliberately weaponized as a tool of repression. These attacks often exploit patriarchal norms and gendered stigma, using threats, harassment, or narratives about women’s bodies and sexuality to shame, intimidate, and silence them.

Aljizawi says that autocrats “can find ways to target…women in the movement without even bothering to deploy a lot of resources” by using software to hack their phones or computers. By employing tools like zero-click spyware, or buying information from data brokers, states can surveil and harass women who speak up against them.

Transnational repression can cause intense psychological distress, leading women to withdraw from public life and self-censor in conversations. However, by leaning into their community and relying on others, victims can reframe how they think about the attacks and build resilience. 

“Working with activists and journalists who were targeted in a similar way to me was a healing process,” Aljizawi, who was a victim of gender-based transnational repression, says. “I can turn this paranoia and anger into something more impactful to help other people, reveal these kinds of atrocities, and fight back. The more we open spaces to talk about it, we develop our immune system.”

The post The Market for Spyware is Growing: It’s Used Differently Against Women appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Citizen Lab researchers first published evidence of Predator spyware in Greece in late 2021. The Lab later analyzed the phones of journalist Thanasis Koukakis and former trust and safety manager at Meta Artemis Seaford, confirming that they had been infected. A massive spyware operation in the country targeting politicians and public figures was revealed and the resulting scandal was dubbed “Predatorgate.”

Speaking to the ICIJ, senior researcher John Scott-Railton notes that “This is the first time that an executive at a mercenary spy company has been convicted and sentenced to prison.”

In the Record, Scott-Railton predicts that the convictions will make it difficult for the defendants to conduct business, like a “huge ball and chain that Intellexa’s executives are going to be dragging around.”

The court decision is a victory for the journalists that persevered in bringing the case to light, as well as for the ecosystem of organizations that have investigated Predator spyware, including the Citizen Lab and Amnesty Tech, among others.

The post Intellexa Founder, Three Others Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison Over Greek Spyware Scandal appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Women who stand at the forefront of efforts to advance gender equality often face severe backlash for their public engagement, impacting individual rights and democratic participation. 

This event will highlight how structural barriers continue to constrain the work of women human rights defenders, peacebuilders, and politicians. The panelists will explore legal and institutional strategies to address gender-based violence and violence against women in the public sphere.

The post From Harm to Justice: Ending Violence Against Women in the Public Sphere in the OSCE Region appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Experts are concerned about the Ministry’s refusal to explain what the tool will be used for and the extent of its surveillance capabilities. Austrian authorities have not made it clear if they have also bought WebLoc, an additional feature that allows clients to track the movement of mobile devices within a designated area. Both Tangles and WebLoc, developed by Israeli firm Cobwebs and sold by the U.S.-based vendor Penlink, are used by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE). 

Christl warns that this highly intrusive tool could enable uncontrolled mass surveillance based on the personal data of millions of people in Austria. 

“It is extremely concerning from a democratic perspective that the Interior Ministry refuses to answer…whether or not the police or intelligence services are misusing problematic or even unlawfully collected behavioural data from digital advertising for surveillance purposes,” Christl says.

(Quotes translated from German)

The post Austrian Interior Ministry Using Cobwebs Surveillance Software appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

One submission focuses on digital tools that enable disappearances, calling on host states to protect against rights violations caused by digital transnational repression. The authors argue  that enforced disappearances have been facilitated by the use of targeted surveillance technology, and host states must anticipate and address the use of these tools. 

The second submission is co-authored by Citizen Lab researchers, independent researcher Nate Schenkkan, and Yaqiu Wang from the University of Chicago. It tackles elements of the migration process that make individuals vulnerable to transnational repression. The authors highlight how inadequate resources, hostile policies, insufficient privacy safeguards, and data sharing agreements among states can contribute to rights violations against migrants.

While they focus on different factors that play a part in disappearances, both submissions emphasize the responsibility of host states to protect vulnerable populations and individuals from transnational repression. 

Read the recommendations here and here.

The post Submissions to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances: And the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

The authors found that European nations respond more weakly to transnational repression from China than repression by other countries. Dirks notes that this is likely due to closer economic ties with China. “Many Democratic states, including within the European Union, are…looking to maintain workable relations with China in a range of areas,” he says.

The report also calls  for a coordinated response from European countries and greater support for victims. “For many people, this is a human rights problem that they face day in and day out, and that failure to address this problem will have real human consequences for those individuals and their wider communities,” Dirks says.

The post New EU Report Urges More Aggressive Action Against Transnational Repression appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

In 2018, Citizen Lab researchers discovered that a Saudi operator called KINGDOM was targeting dissidents abroad with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Saudi activist and political YouTuber Ghanem Al-Masarir was among those sent messages that contained links to KINGDOM, and his phone was subsequently infected. Al-Masarir sued the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for damages, claiming psychological harm and loss of earnings. 

In January 2026, Al-Masarir was awarded £3m in damages, including injury, associated costs, and lost earnings due to being targeted with spyware and physically assaulted by Saudi Arabian agents. Senior researcher Bill Marczak served as a witness, providing evidence and expertise. In the initial 2022 hearing of the Al-Masarir case, the presiding judge observed that “Dr Marczak’s qualifications and expertise are impeccable. In my judgment, his evidence demonstrates to the requisite standard that the Claimant’s iPhones were infected with spyware, and that the Defendant and/or those for whom it was vicariously liable, were responsible.”

Marczak was also described as an “impressive witness” in an earlier family court case concerning the use of Pegasus.

Speaking with the Guardian, Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert says, “For years, victims of targeted espionage and transnational repression have lacked an avenue for justice. Thankfully, the United Kingdom’s courts have just provided such an avenue. We applaud the judgment wholeheartedly.”

“Ghanem’s experiences mirror those experienced by citizens the world over – being targeted by autocratic governments armed with sophisticated mercenary spyware tools whose aim is to hack, track and ultimately silence their voices.”

The post Saudi Arabia Ordered to Pay £3m to London Dissident Over Pegasus Spying appeared first on The Citizen Lab.