Spyware threat haunts journalists and muzzles press in Togo
“I am a journalist on borrowed time.”
That’s how Togolese reporter Ferdinand Ayité, director of the West African nation’s L’Alternative newspaper, described himself last year after learning that his phone may have been infected with spyware.
The revelations came from the now infamous Pegasus Project. The multi-newsroom investigation exposed the stunning global reach of Pegasus, a sophisticated spyware tool developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. The investigation centered on a leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers that clients of NSO, mostly autocratic and democratic governments alike, had allegedly selected for potential surveillance. Among those on the list were nearly 200 reporters from around 20 countries, including Togo’s Ayité, an enterprising investigative reporter.
A lot has happened in the twelve-plus months since the news came to light. Protestors took to the streets from Hungary to India and the list of confirmed Pegasus victims continues to expand. Meanwhile, NSO Group is facing a growing international backlash: The Biden administration blacklisted the company; Apple sued the Israeli spyware firm for allegedly violating its user terms and services agreement; and the European Parliament and several jurisdictions have launched official investigations into Pegasus. The pushback shows that there is at least some institutional appetite to crack down on Pegasus a year after the revelations, even if privacy advocates say it’s been too little, too late.