Amnesty Report Confirms Indian Journalists’ iPhones Hit With Spyware, Following Apple’s Warnings

Amnesty International reports that it has found evidence of NSO Group’s spyware on the iPhones of journalists in India. This concrete report backs up earlier claims and warnings from Apple.

The Amnesty International non-governmental organization confirmed its findings this week. Pegasus spyware has supposedly been used on select Indian journalists and opposition figures. The state-sponsored attack seemingly has sparked a counterattack from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, according to Yahoo! Finance.

“Our latest findings show that increasingly, journalists in India face the threat of unlawful surveillance simply for doing their jobs, alongside other tools of repression including imprisonment under draconian laws, smear campaigns, harassment, and intimidation,” said Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, Head of Amnesty International’s Security Lab, in a blog post.

Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that Apple faced some backlash from Prime Minister Modi’s administration upon its warnings in October. The administration is said to have spoken to Apple behind closed doors in an attempt to soften the political impact of its warnings. Apple representatives were even summoned to seek alternative explanations. The Modi administration even flew in an Apple security expert in hopes of finding other possibilities.

“Many of the more than 20 people who received Apple’s warnings at the end of October have been publicly critical of Modi or his longtime ally, Gautam Adani, an Indian energy and infrastructure tycoon,” the report states.

The pressure from Modi’s administration didn’t deliver the impact it would hope. It’s said that it ended up disturbing Apple executives. Apple India officials did attempt to cast doubt on said warnings in the beginning. However, the company has not issued any follow-up statements on the matter.

Apple does have invested interests in India.  The company plans to move over 25 percent of its iPhone production to India by 2025. Apple plans to scale production and manufacture over 50 million units each year, reducing its dependence on China. Two India-based Apple Stores were also opened throughout 2023.