WhatsApp on Thursday, 31 October, said Indian journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and politicians were among those who were globally spied upon by unnamed entities using an Israeli spyware name Pegasus, developed firm NSO Group.
Following the Facebook-owned platform's disclosure, there has been a trade-off between the Indian government and the messaging platform, with the government alleging that WhatsApp didn't inform, while WhatsApp has said that it had informed the government on two different occasions. It said that the Indian authorities were informed once in May, and then again in September.
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WhatsApp, which believes that about 1,400 people were affected globally, said 121 Indians are among the one’s targeted.
Several activists, lawyers and journalists have came forward to confirm that they were informed of the attack by WhatsApp. Here's a full list of who all were affected:
Politicians
- Praful Patel, Former Union Minister and NCP Leader
- Priyanka Gandhi, Congress General Secretary
Activists and Academics
- Vira Sathidar, Activist-Actor
- Bela Bhatia, Chhattisgarh-Based Dalit Rights Activist
- Degree Prasad Chauhan, Activist
- Anand Teltumbde, Academic
- Ashish Gupta, Delhi-Based PUCL Activist
- Vivek Sundara, Activist
- Ajmal Khan, Activist
- Saroj Giri, DU Professor
- Seema Azad, Activist
- Rupali Jadhav, Human Rights Activist
- Alok Shukla, Activist
- P Pavana, daughter of Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao
Lawyers
- Nihal Singh Rathod, Bhima-Koregaon Lawyer
- Jagdish Meshram, Gadchiroli-based lawyer
- Shalini Gera, Chhattisgarh-Based Lawyer
- Ankit Grewal, Bhima Koregaon Lawyer
- Arunank, law graduate
- Ravindranath Bhalla, Advocate
- Balla Ravindranath, Hyderabad-based advocate
- Mandeep Singh, Lawyer based in Chandigarh
Journalists
- Shubhranshu Choudhary, Former BBC Journalist
- Sidhant Sibal, Journalist with WION
- Santosh Bhartiya, Former MP and Journalist
- Rajeev Sharma, Independent Journalist
WhatsApp has said that it was suing NSO Group. After the Indian government sought an explanation on Friday, 1 November, the company responded to the government again and explained its lawsuit in a California court.
However, it did not say at whose behest the phones of journalists and activists across the world were targeted.
The mobile messaging giant said it had sent a special WhatsApp message to approximately 1,400 users that it has “reason to believe were impacted by this attack to directly inform them about what happened”.
While the messaging giant did not disclose the details or the number of people affected in India, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “Indian users were among those contacted by us this week.”
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