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Fact check

Is it true: Pegasus NSO Spyware?

Confirmed95% confidence

Yes — this is confirmed.

Pegasus spyware is forensically confirmed to exist and to have been used against journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, politicians, and associates of Jamal Khashoggi. Citizen Lab (University of Toronto), Amnesty International Security Lab, and Apple's own vulnerability disclosure team have independently verified infections. The 2021 Pegasus Project documented 50,000+ apparent targets across NSO Group's government clients. The US Commerce Department added NSO to its Entity List in November 2021. Apple and Meta have filed lawsuits against NSO. The core surveillance claims are documented facts, not speculation.

The claim

Pegasus is a commercial surveillance software package developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group and sold exclusively to government clients. Its existence and capabilities were first definitively confirm

Key evidence

Citizen Lab forensic confirmation (2016–present)

NSO Group disputes the 50,000-number list methodology

Read the full evidence file

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