Spyware installed on Kenyan filmmakers’ phones in police custody
New York, September 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely alarmed by the installation of spyware on two Kenyan filmmakers’ phones while the devices were in police custody, and calls on authorities to drop a case against them and two other filmmakers and ensure that journalists are not further targeted for surveillance. Forensic analysis…
CPJ, partners condemn Saudi Arabia’s press freedom record ahead of Trump’s visit
Ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia on May 13, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 16 other human rights organizations condemned the kingdom’s deteriorating press freedom, including journalists’ arrests, travel bans, surveillance, and disinformation aimed at silencing the media. The groups called on Saudi authorities to release all detained journalists, lift…
2nd Italian investigative journalist targeted with smartphone spyware
Berlin, May 6, 2025—CPJ calls on Italian authorities to step up efforts to investigate spyware attacks against journalists at the news site Fanpage.it, as reporter Ciro Pellegrino became the second member of staff to reveal that his phone had been targeted this year. “The repeated targeting of Fanpage.it journalists suggests a pattern of surveillance aimed…
Italian investigative journalist Francesco Cancellato targeted with Paragon spyware
Berlin, February 10, 2025 — Italian authorities should thoroughly investigate the targeting of the editor-in-chief of the news site Fanpage.it Francesco Cancellato’s cell phone with spyware via the WhatsApp messaging app and punish the perpetrators, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. “The attack on investigative journalist Francesco Cancellato with Paragon spyware is a serious…
CPJ, partners comment on U.S. Commerce Department’s proposed rules on surveillance technology export controls
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined eight human rights and digital rights organizations on October 15 to provide comments to the U.S. Commerce Department in response to its proposed rules to strengthen surveillance technology export regulations. The joint comments assess and offer recommendations for the Commerce Department to help curb the proliferation of such surveillance…
Pegasus spyware targeted exiled journalists from Russia, Latvia, Belarus, report finds
New York, May 30, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by a Thursday report by rights group Access Now and research organization Citizen Lab alleging that Pegasus spyware was used to surveil at least five journalists. The report, “Exiled, then spied on: Civil society in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland targeted with Pegasus spyware,”…
CPJ calls for an investigation into the targeting of journalists with Pegasus spyware in Jordan
Beirut, February 1, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is highly alarmed by the targeting of journalists with Pegasus spyware in Jordan and repeats its calls for an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer, and use of such surveillance technologies, as well as a ban on spyware and its vendors that facilitate human rights…
Pegasus spyware used to target Togolese journalists Loïc Lawson and Anani Sossou
New York, January 23, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by findings that the phones of Togolese journalists Loïc Lawson and Anani Sossou were infected with Pegasus spyware in 2021, and repeats its calls for an immediate moratorium on the use of such surveillance technologies and for legal proceedings against the journalists to be…
CPJ, others call for lawsuits against Greek journalists and outlets to be dropped
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined eight other international press freedom organizations in support of journalists and media outlets in Greece ahead of a series of abusive lawsuits filed by Grigoris Dimitriadis, former general secretary and the nephew of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Dimitriadis filed two lawsuits against newspaper EFSYN and online investigative portal…
CPJ to EU: The time to act on spyware is now
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the European Union to include effective legal safeguards in its planned legislation to rein in the abusive use of spyware against journalists. Negotiations on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), a draft EU law seeking to strengthen media freedom and pluralism in EU member states, are likely to…