Berlin, May 6, 2025—CPJ calls on Italian authorities to step up efforts to investigate spyware attacks against journalists at the news site Fanpage.it, as reporter Ciro Pellegrino became the second member of staff to reveal that his phone had been targeted this year.
“The repeated targeting of Fanpage.it journalists suggests a pattern of surveillance aimed at intimidating and silencing investigative reporting — a chilling signal to journalists in Italy,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Italian authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation, clarify the allegations of government involvement, hold all those responsible to account, and ensure that journalists can work without fear of surveillance.”
On April 30, Pellegrino said he had received an Apple threat notification warning that his iPhone had been targeted due to his journalistic work, which was later confirmed by cybersecurity experts. Apple sent similar alerts last week to users in about 100 countries.
In February, Francesco Cancellato, editor-in-chief of Fanpage.it — which is known for investigating corruption, organized crime, and Italy’s far-right — revealed that his phone had been targeted with Paragon spyware via WhatsApp, as part of a hacking attempt affecting around 90 of the messaging app’s users in dozens of countries.
Pellegrino told CPJ that his phone was being analyzed by security experts, and he was awaiting answers regarding the nature of the spyware, its duration, and the extent of the attack.
After local press freedom groups filed a complaint, the Rome prosecutor’s office launched an investigation in March into unauthorized surveillance of journalists and activists.
According to leaks from a closed session of Italy’s intelligence oversight committee in March, a government official said spyware surveillance had been approved for some migrant rights activists, but Cancellato was not targeted, and the operation was legally authorized.
The Guardian reported in February that Paragon had terminated its client relationship with Italy.
CPJ’s email requesting comment from the prosecutor’s office in Rome did not receive a reply.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
CPJ Staff | Radio Free (2025-05-06T16:03:00+00:00) 2nd Italian investigative journalist targeted with smartphone spyware. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/05/06/2nd-italian-investigative-journalist-targeted-with-smartphone-spyware/
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