Spyware used against activists and journalists in Mexico

Despite a commitment by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to halt such activities, it is reported that the Mexican government or army has continued to utilise spyware meant to hack into the cellphones of activists.

Press freedom advocacy organisations reported that they had discovered proof of recent attempts to target activists looking into human rights violations committed by armed forces using the Israeli spyware tool Pegasus. The University of Toronto group Citizen Lab conducted a forensic study to confirm the Pegasus virus.

The targets included Raymundo Ramos, a rights campaigner, according to a report by the press freedom organisation Article 19, The Network for the Defense of Digital Rights, and Mexican media outlets.