The Moroccan intelligence services are one of the clients who has been making extensive use of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, as revealed by Forbidden Stories’s investigation. Pegasus has been used to track political opponents and supposed allies’ communications, including in this case the Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, Moroccan journalists, French President Emmanuel Macron, French ambassadors, and hundreds of Algerian ministers and political figures. More here  and here.

The Moroccan government denies any involvement and has threatened to sue Forbidden Stories for libel. More here.

While the extent and reach of intelligence services’ use of Pegasus was not known until the release of Forbidden Stories’ investigation, a report by Citizen Lab (University of Toronto) in 2018 already sounded the alarm over the surveillance of journalists and activists in Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. Read more here, with the original report available here.