1/ NEW REPORT: Former Member of the European Parliament Stelios Kouloglou was repeatedly hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware while serving on the EU committee investigating Pegasus and other spyware abuses in Europe. Full report: citizenlab.ca/research/mem...

Espionage Against the European Parliament: Member of Committee Investigating Spyware Hacked with Pegasus - The Citizen Lab

We found that former Member of the European Parliament Stelios Kouloglou was hacked with Pegasus spyware while serving on the PEGA committee, which investigated Pegasus and other spyware abuses in Eur...

citizenlab.ca

NEW @citizenlab.ca report: Member of 🇪🇺 Euro Parliamentary committee (#PEGA) tasked with investigating spyware abuses himself hacked with Pegasus spyware 👇 citizenlab.ca/research/mem...

Espionage Against the European Parliament: Member of Committee Investigating Spyware Hacked with Pegasus - The Citizen Lab

We found that former Member of the European Parliament Stelios Kouloglou was hacked with Pegasus spyware while serving on the PEGA committee, which investigated Pegasus and other spyware abuses in Eur...

citizenlab.ca

• a cowardice problem where people like you and me, who have sworn oaths to uphold existing laws, have become unwilling to intervene and prevent blatant criminal actions because we fear losing status, losing money, being harassed, or emotional and physical abuse to ourselves or our families.” (8/8)

“If a hostile state ran AI-generated sockpuppet networks to swing our politics, we would call it foreign interference and respond with the full machinery of state.” So let’s call it precisely that.

Call It What It Is: Foreign Interference

If a hostile state ran this sort of operation to swing our vote, we'd call it foreign interference. It's time we did.

redbridgeintel.substack.com

Some great digital sleuthing here.

Bellingcat@bellingcat.com · 2mo ago

NEW: @elisethomas.bsky.social reveals multiple links between Viory, a video news agency supplying national press agencies across Africa, Asia and the Middle East and Ruptly news agency - a branch of sanctioned Russian propaganda outlet Russia Today. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06...

On this June 4th, wishing for a world with more people willing to stand in front of the tanks, and less who are willing to drive them.

Doctoral fellow Swantje Lange @swantjelan.bsky.social spoke with the Hasso Plattner Institut @hpi.bsky.social about sophisticated surveillance campaigns being used to exploit mobile networks, sharing that “the mobile network is highly opaque and extremely complex.” hpi.de/en/article/r...

Researchers uncover espionage in mobile networks

Like a spy movie: Researchers from HPI and the University of Toronto reveal how surveillance actors exploit mobile networks to track people worldwide.

hpi.de

And sorry, but I don’t buy any of the excuses I’ve seen and heard.

Sarah Murphy@13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“Some argue that quitting the platform formerly known as Twitter cedes the space to malign actors. But it’s an open sewer, beyond redemption.” X radicalises our politics, normalises and amplifies the far right and poisons our democracy a bit more every day. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🧵Here's a little thread on the campaign exposed by @whljustin.bsky.social, and the interesting, if surreal, figure that apparently runs it.

The strange re-emergence of a serial conman

Two decades after conning New Zealand media outlets, Jake Sanders has re-emerged in Asia as a geopolitical commentator, media executive, ordained priest and the ‘Knight Commander’ of a religious order...

thepost.co.nz

This must be the weirdest disinformation network and actor I have seen in a long time. Glad I could comment on @whljustin.bsky.social ‘s story about it. Ever see pro-China disinfo sites run by a supposed priest/diplomat/journalist who once posed as a NZ spy and triggered a fake scandal? Read on.

Justin Wong@whljustin.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Now, he's running around Asia as a geopolitical commentator, media executive and ordained priest. My story on @thepost-nz.bsky.social today: www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

🧵Remember PAPERWALL, the sprawling disinfo network we @citizenlab.ca exposed in 2024 as run by a Chinese firm, Haimai? 2 full years later, it's still very active and expanding. In its quest to cover the whole globe, it is now focusing also on Australia, New Zealand, and India. Readers? Still zero.

PAPERWALL: Chinese Websites Posing as Local News Outlets Target Global Audiences with Pro-Beijing Content - The Citizen Lab

A network of at least 123 websites operated from within the People’s Republic of China while posing as local news outlets in 30 countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, disseminates pro-Beiji...

citizenlab.ca

As many are aware by now, @accessnow.org 's annual @rightscon.org was cancelled because of pressure on the host govt Zambia 🇿🇲 by China 🇨🇳 www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme... In their statement, @accessnow.org rightly flags this is as an example of transnational repression

A statement to our community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia

Our official statement to the digital rights community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia

rightscon.org

New: Access Now says its RightsCon conference in Zambia was cancelled following pressure from Beijing. Our story: www.reuters.com/world/china/... Access Now statement: www.rightscon.org/rc26-statement

A statement to our community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia

Our official statement to the digital rights community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia

rightscon.org

Let’s hope Apple’s Next CEO doesn’t take @wired.com literally

Apple's Next CEO Needs to Launch a Killer AI Product

Tim Cook was a great CEO, but he didn’t crack AI.  It’s job number 1 for John Ternus.

wired.com

I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.

Ignacio Gallup-Diaz@igallupd.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

“TikTok said in a statement that it conducted a careful review of the 304 accounts and found “zero indication of covert influence operations.” […] the accounts were spammers attempting to mine engagement.” And in terms of their generated damage, the difference is?

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 4mo ago

In the months leading up to the midterm elections, hundreds of accounts have emerged on social media featuring A.I.-generated pro-Trump influencers posting at a rapid pace. Several accounts have already amassed thousands followers. Some of the posts have more than half a million views.

"that other stuff" probably includes deep analysis and reflection on whether we should indiscriminantly surveil fellow human beings

Palantir CEO says working at his $316 billion software company is better than a degree from Harvard or Yale: ‘No one cares about the other stuff’ | Fortune

Sorry, Apple, Google, and OpenAI, Palantir’s billionaire boss, Alex Karp, says a job at his AI firm is the “best credential in tech.”

fortune.com

Influence ops aren’t only done to win elections - or wars. [Whispers] Maybe not even mainly for that. And social media… have almost nothing “social”, or real, left.

WIRED@wired.com · 4mo ago

When the Brooklyn band Geese shot to the heights of rock and roll fame at the end of 2025 (seemingly out of nowhere), it was labeled an “industry plant” by those who questioned its sudden ubiquity—and the increased chatter across social media. Maybe it was. www.wired.com/story/geese-...

11/ Help starve the ADINT dragnet. Do this now: iPhone: ⚙️Settings➡️Privacy & Security➡️ Tracking Turn off "Allow Apps to Request to Track" Android: ⚙️Settings➡️Privacy ➡️ Ads ➡️Delete Advertising ID It's only a beginning, but you don't owe any of these companies a drop of your data.

💥Orbán’s intelligence agencies have been secretly using Webloc — a mass surveillance tool that tracks hundreds of millions of people via smartphone advertising data — making Hungary the first confirmed EU country to deploy it, in likely violation of GDPR.

Orbán’s Spying Kit Revealed: Israeli Surveillance Tool Combined with Hungarian Technology - VSquare.org

Intelligence agencies of Viktor Orbán's government have been secretly using Webloc — a mass surveillance tool that tracks hundreds of millions of people via smartphone advertising data — making Hungary the first confirmed EU country to deploy it, in likely violation of GDPR. Moreover, our investigation confirms the existence of "homegrown" OSINT and spyware tools.

vsquare.org

“Mossad’s intel indicated that […] with the impetus of the spy agency helping to foment riots and rebellion an intense bombing campaign could foster the conditions for the IR opposition to overthrow the regime.” Who was the intended audience of PRISONBREAK and other ops? Iranians, or Americans?

How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran

nytimes.com

1/ I spoke with The New York Times for their new story on the “liar’s dividend” in times of war — the ability not to trick audiences with AI-generated content, but to dismiss real one as AI-generated.

Netanyahu Posts ‘Proof of Life’ Video as A.I. Sows Doubts About What’s Real

nytimes.com

1/ I have a huge amount of respect for my former colleagues investigators at Meta who did the hard and smart work behind this new Adversarial Threat Report. And I find what’s in it really important and interesting. But I have questions for the company.

More spyware fallout in Italy 🇮🇹 following WhatsApp & Apple notifications & @citizenlab.ca investigations Prosecutors' team confirms journalist @fcancellato.bsky.social's phone hacked with Paragon spyware @lorenzofb.bsky.social with details; stay tuned for more techcrunch.com/2026/03/05/i...

Italian prosecutors confirm journalist was hacked with Paragon spyware | TechCrunch

Italian authorities are making progress in their investigation into a wide-ranging spyware scandal in Italy involving Paragon spyware. But the mystery of who hacked two Italian journalists with Parago...

techcrunch.com

Trump has invoked Iran’s past attempts to influence US elections as a justification for war. But his administration has decimated CISA and stopped the FBI from investigating foreign election interference, writes Paul M. Barrett. Is Trump building a case to intervene in future elections?

Despite Using Iranian Meddling to Justify War, Trump Axes Election Defenses

It's hypocritical for the President to pretend to care about foreign actors influencing US elections, writes Paul M. Barrett.

buff.ly

“Look what we found after having wiped out our Trust & Safety guardrails, the teams deploying them, and all connections with civil society!” Note: all accounts we reported on (#JUICYJAM, #PRISONBREAK, even older #HKLEAKS stuff) are still visible on the platform — some also very active to this day.

Roman A.@romanad.bsky.social · 5mo ago

X suspends 800m accounts in one year amid ‘massive’ scale of manipulation attempts Social media company tells MPs of continual fight against state-backed efforts, with Russia being most prolific www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Several years from now, a thoughtful scholar will write a book called “Trump’s Willing Executioners” about how a nation of 340 million descended into abject depravity.

Laura Jedeed@laurajedeed.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"The only ones who need to be worried right now is the Iranians who think they're gonna live" -Pete Hegseth, Very Normal Guy

If only regular people would read this and realize “Well, maybe he’s not really in it for my best interest.”

Nigel Farage's Reform UK party lands second big donation from crypto investor

Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party secured a second big donation from ​crypto investor Christopher Harborne, helping it raise more money than its rivals last ‌year in a sign that business donors ...

reuters.com

An ICE detainee in Arizona has died of a TOOTH INFECTION after it went untreated for weeks, a local official says. He was a Haitian asylum seeker imprisoned in Florence, Arizona. @emilybregel.bsky.social reports. tucson.com/news/local/b...

Florence ICE detainee dead after untreated tooth infection, official says

An ICE detainee, who had been at a Florence detention center for four months, died Monday following an untreated tooth infection.

tucson.com

1/ NEW: There’s currently a heavy push over X in support of (1) the ongoing attacks on Iran (2) Reza Pahlavi. It’s hard to quickly quantify this wave, but anecdotal evidence shows that the main support hashtags - as well as by the *real* people promoting them - are also pushed inorganically.