WhatsApp Snooping Row: Government Directs Messaging App to Explain Privacy Breach After Social Media Platform Confirms Surveillance Through Israeli Spyware Pegasus
While WhatsApp did not reveal the identities of those who were snooped, it said that it had contacted them and informed them about the spyware. WhatsApp alerted them that their phones had been under state-of-the-art surveillance for a two-week period until May 2019.
New Delhi, October 31: The government of India on Thursday directed WhatsApp to explain the snooping incident on Indian journalists, activists, lawyers and government officials. A number of journalists, Dalit activists, lawyers and academics in India were targets of surveillance by operators using Israeli spyware Pegasus, Facebook-owned WhatsApp acknowledged on Thursday. WhatsApp Says Israeli Spyware Pegasus Was Used to Snoop on Indian Journalists, Dalit Activists.
While WhatsApp did not reveal the identities of those who were snooped, it said that it had contacted them and informed them about the spyware. WhatsApp alerted them that their phones had been under state-of-the-art surveillance for a two-week period until May 2019, The Indian Express reported. The Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The results were declared on May 23.
"Government of India is concerned at the breach of privacy of citizens of India on the messaging platform WhatsApp. We have asked WhatsApp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens," tweeted Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The alarming information came to light after a lawsuit filed by WhatsApp on Tuesday wherein it was alleged that the Israeli NSO Group snooped on 1,400 WhatsApp users with Pegasus. The lawsuit which resulted in the revealtion of snooping by the Israeli group was filed in a US federal court, San Francisco.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 31, 2019 06:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).