The Association of Salvadoran Journalists said it had been notified of alerts being sent to 23 journalists, including some on investigative news outlets.
The Association of Salvadoran Journalists says some news outlets have reported receiving alerts from Apple Inc. on November 24, warning of “potential espionage” on the part of the Salvadoran government.
The association said it had been informed of the alerts sent to 23 journalists, including some investigative news outlets El Faro and newspapers such as Diario El Mundo, El Diario de Hoy, La Prensa Grafica.
El Faro said an alert had been sent to 12 of its journalists, two civilian activists and two opposition leaders.
Citizens group Christosal said its executive director, Noah Bullock, had received the alert and called it an “attack on privacy, an attack on freedom of expression”.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the alert.
President Nayib Bukele’s New Ideas Party – whose Twitter profile now jokingly lists him as “El Salvador’s CEO” – dismissed the allegation.
Christian Guevara, the legislative leader of New Ideas, wrote on his Twitter account that “No matter how much the people of El Faro want, there is no persecution. No repression. No persecution. No censorship. No political prisoners.” There’s nothing there. They should change their dealer, he’s selling stuff that drives you crazy.”
On November 23, Apple announced that it is suing Israel’s NSO Group, which seeks to block the world’s most notorious hacker-for-hire company from breaking into Apple’s products like the iPhone.
Apple said in a complaint filed in federal court in California that NSO Group’s spyware, called Pegasus, was used to attack a small number of Apple customers around the world.
NSO Group has largely denied wrongdoing and said its products have been used by governments to save lives.
This is the latest blow to the hacking firm, which was recently blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce and is currently being prosecuted by social media giant Facebook.
Concerns have risen this year among Salvador’s opposition and outside observers as Bukele moves to consolidate power.
Voters gave Congress control of the highly popular presidential party earlier this year. The new lawmakers immediately replaced members of the Supreme Court’s constitutional chamber and the attorney general, leaving Bukele’s party firmly in control of other branches of government.
The US government responded by saying it would divert its aid from government agencies to civil society organizations.
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