Thai gov’t admits to using Pegasus spyware – for ‘special’ cases

A top technology official yesterday admitted that Thailand’s government has used a potent spyware tool sold by an Israeli company but denied it was used to attack dissidents.

Addressing parliament during a no-confidence debate that kicked off yesterday, Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn admitted that the tool, called Pegasus, has been used but insisted that it was only against suspected drug traffickers. His comments came after recent reports that dozens of pro-democracy activists were hacked with the tool.

During the no-confidence debate in the parliament that kicked off yesterday, 

“I know that [Pegasus spyware] exists because we’ve studied about it before,” Chaiwut said on Tuesday in the parliament. “But as much as I know, it’s only used for drug trafficking investigations only such as eavesdropping the criminals when and…