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Journalist targeted on WhatsApp by Paragon spyware: ‘I feel violated’


An Italian investigative journalist said he was the target of a spyware attack disclosed by WhatsApp.

Cancellato is the director of Fanpage.it, an Italian news website that is known for investigations into corruption, organized crime, the Catholic Church, and the youth-wing of the far-right ruling party in Italy, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The investigation showed videos of several party members making racist remarks against Jewish and Black people, chanting N-words and Nazi slogans, and singing about the fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. WhatsApp’s message to Cancellato suggested he could contact Citizen Lab, a digital rights group at the University of Toronto that has for a decade investigated and exposed spyware abuses all over the world, including Ethiopia, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Spain.

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