
The Pegasus Project investigation by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International revealed that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was used to target over 50,000 phone numbers including journalists, human rights activists, and heads of state. The spyware could silently access all phone data including encrypted messages. Targets included Jamal Khashoggi's inner circle, French President Macron, and journalists in Mexico and India.
“NSO Group's Pegasus spyware is being sold to authoritarian governments who are using it to spy on journalists and dissidents worldwide.”
What they said vs. what the evidence shows
“NSO Group's technology is solely operated by intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the purpose of fighting crime and terrorism.”
— NSO Group · Jul 2021
SourceFrom “crazy” to confirmed
The Claim Is Made
This is the moment they called it crazy.
When a Mexican journalist's phone went dark in 2017, she assumed it was a technical glitch. It wasn't. What she didn't know was that her device had become a window into her entire life—her communications, her location, her meetings with sources—all accessible to someone else without her knowledge or consent.
This scenario wasn't isolated. Between 2016 and 2021, the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group sold its Pegasus spyware to governments around the world with a simple promise: it would help them fight terrorism and crime. What actually happened was far more troubling.
The Pegasus Project, a joint investigation by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, revealed in 2021 that the spyware had been used to target over 50,000 phone numbers. The list reads like a directory of people governments wanted to silence: journalists covering corruption, human rights activists documenting abuses, and political opponents of authoritarian regimes. The targets included people close to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and reporters working in Mexico and India.
NSO Group's initial response was dismissive. The company claimed it only sold its tools to vetted government agencies for legitimate law enforcement purposes. They suggested that the Pegasus Project's findings were exaggerated or that they couldn't verify the claims. It was a familiar defense: trust us, not activists with an agenda.
But Amnesty International's forensic methodology report provided something NSO Group couldn't dismiss—technical evidence. Forensic analysis of targeted phones showed unmistakable traces of Pegasus infection. The spyware didn't just monitor calls and texts; it accessed encrypted messaging apps, email, location data, and calendar information. Once installed, it gave governments complete visibility into the private lives of their targets.
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Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
The scope made the abuse undeniable. This wasn't a handful of cases. Amnesty's investigation identified patterns of targeting across multiple countries, with activist groups in countries like Morocco, UAE, and Kazakhstan showing particularly high infection rates. France officially confirmed that Pegasus was used against its own citizens. Mexico acknowledged the spyware was present on phones of journalists and activists there.
What made this different from earlier surveillance revelations was the scale of abuse and the brazenness of the violation. NSO Group hadn't just created a tool; they'd industrialized surveillance. Governments could now conduct comprehensive monitoring of individuals without any technical barriers or traditional legal safeguards. A person's most intimate communications—messages to family, sources, therapists, and lovers—could be accessed in seconds.
The implications extended beyond the individuals targeted. If governments could monitor journalists, they could control information. If they could track activists, they could suppress dissent. The Pegasus Project showed how modern surveillance technology had made these abuses not just possible, but routine.
Today, the question isn't whether this happened. Multiple forensic analyses, government admissions, and NSO Group's own leaked client lists have confirmed it. The real question is what comes next. NSO Group continues operating. Many governments have faced no consequences. And Pegasus is just one spyware tool among dozens available on the market.
This isn't about one company or one bad actor. It's about the infrastructure that now exists for mass surveillance, and whether democratic institutions have the will to dismantle it.
Beat the odds
This had a 0% chance of leaking — someone talked anyway.
Conspirators
~150Network
Secret kept
0.5 years
Time to 95% exposure
500+ years