The Citizen Lab

@citizenlab · on X ↗
715 posts archived · 0 deleted · tracked since Oct 22, 2026 · checked 26m ago · Download · RSS
Archiving older tweets: back to Feb 2020 so far

Academic research unit at @UofT investigating novel threats to democracy, human rights, and global security in the digital ecosystem.

📍 Toronto, Canada

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politicstruthdemocracy

Why it's watchedhuman rights online activists

The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Director @RonDeibert gave a keynote address at SecTor 2026, warning that spyware and surveillance have been “super-charged” thanks to AI. Read about his talk in @DarkReading. t.co/oCRdIhv44b
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Snapshot 1 of @citizenlab's post from 2026-10-21
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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4/Robertson argues that strong encryption is critical to cybersecurity, and that government efforts to create lawful-access mechanisms, surveillance capabilities, or backdoors in communication technologies makes all Canadians less safe.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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3/The bill would force the stockpiling of all Canadians’ sensitive metadata, and everything from smartphones, smartwatches, banking apps, health apps, video game platforms, and public WiFi or CCTV networks could be accessed by law enforcement.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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2/If passed, the controversial Bill C-22 (“Lawful Access Act”) would empower the Canadian government to require surveillance capabilities be built into any communications technology in Canada.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
1/“The assumption by government officials that technology companies can find “safe ways” to weaken critical cybersecurity protections badly misreads the current threat landscape,” writes the Citizen Lab’s @KateRobertson_ in her new piece on Bill C-22 for @GlobeandMail. t.co/gUOTroagAb
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Adam Juchniewicz | Bitcoin Lawyer @xbitcoinlawyer · ↗
@citizenlab @KateRobertson_ @globeandmail A government can promise to use an access power carefully. It can't promise the weakness will only be used by people with a warrant. That's the part the legislation doesn't get to vote away.
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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4/Robertson argues that strong encryption is critical to cybersecurity, and that government efforts to create lawful-access mechanisms, surveillance capabilities, or backdoors in communication technologies makes all Canadians less safe.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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3/The bill would force the stockpiling of all Canadians’ sensitive metadata, and everything from smartphones, smartwatches, banking apps, health apps, video game platforms, and public WiFi or CCTV networks could be accessed by law enforcement.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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4/ Our research shows devices at international news network Al Jazeera were infected with mercenary spyware from Candiru (rebranded as “Integrity Labs”) via targeted online advertisements.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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5/This report presents the first public technical documentation of in-the-wild infection of devices with zero-click mercenary spyware via targeted advertisements.
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Internet Ethics @IEthics · ↗
@citizenlab Are ad-blockers effective against this?
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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3/ Discover-Tech's platform enables spyware firms to mass profile and deanonymize users, then covertly hack them by displaying seemingly-benign ads containing zero-click exploits to install spyware.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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2/ At the core of this report is Discover-Tech, a company that presents itself as a legitimate online advertising business. In reality, it operates as an intermediary bridging the digital advertising ecosystem and mercenary spyware vendors (and their government customers) seeking to identify and track individuals with spyware.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Thread 🧵 1/ NEW REPORT: Billions of advertising auctions determine in real time which ads we see on websites and in apps every day. Our latest research shows how the same data fueling this advertising ecosystem is being used to profile millions of users and silently infect targets with zero-click mercenary spyware, a novel attack technique we call "Adfection.” Read the report: t.co/EL39T3OoeC
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Jan Ravensbergen @JanRavensbergen · ↗
@shoshanazuboff For your ( we hope well under way ‼️) follow-up book on Surveillance Capitalism The epic — not in a good way — operational pivot that was unleashed during the Covid era cries out for your expert eye & analysis… and two books from you — one Pre, the other Post — would elegantly and with your unerring ability to pinpoint immortally bookend truth about the transformations wrought on our body politic by means of this amazing and horrifying era @uTobian [ totally up your alley bro ❣️ ] @mcrispinmiller @jeffreytucker @JanJekielek @BretWeinstein @jstylman @Snowden For those who missed it: printsnap below is from the 2019 (must-read) Zuboff 💥blockbuster💥: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Image in @JanRavensbergen's reply: @shoshanazuboff For your ( we hope well under way ‼️) follow-up book on Surveillance Capitalism …
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
📢 We’re hiring! Interested in the intersection of law, technology, and human rights? Are you a law student or a graduate student with a law degree? We’re looking for a research assistant to join the Citizen Lab’s spyware and digital targeted threats team to help maintain our spyware litigation database. Learn more and apply by Dec 1: t.co/5aQiz6GbDO
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GENUG @_GENUG_ · ↗
@citizenlab KRIMINELLE NUTZEN SEIT VIELEN JAHREN PEGASUS IN BERLIN UND DÜRFEN NICHT VERHAFTET WERDEN UND ABSOLUT JEDER WEIß BESCHEID UND SCHWEIGT @BMI_Bund
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Senior researcher @jsrailton spoke with @WIRED about comments from the CEO of spyware company Paragon Solutions revealing that it has no way to know if customers misuse its software, or of meaningfully preventing misuse. Scott-Railton notes that this is “exactly the opposite of the picture that Paragon has painted for itself for years.” Read here: t.co/xBNxu4ntUd
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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Citizen Lab director @RonDeibert tells @globeandmail how Canada’s lawful access bill “will make it impossible for a large number of invaluable privacy-preserving tools” to operate in the country.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Psiphon, a software company spun out of the Citizen Lab that helps internet users living under oppressive regimes evade censorship, says it will leave Canada if Bill C-22 passes in its current form. t.co/K9kYYG188l
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Citizen Lab director @RonDeibert is quoted in @guardian's article about Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s increasing influence on AI dominance. “For the last 20 years, democracy has been in decline,” says Deibert. “That happens to coincide with an enormous expansion of digital surveillance capabilities for both commercial and national security purposes. The epicentre of a lot of this is the UAE. And where do all roads lead in the UAE? They lead to Sheikh Tahnoon.” t.co/GQGxoLRUpK
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Morgan Read @morganread544 · ↗
@citizenlab @RonDeibert @guardian who was that fucking bozo fuckin fucking during the terminal CHRIST harvey
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Oct 8: Join senior researcher Maia Scott at #Disinfo2026. She will be chairing a presentation on elections under attack in France. Learn more: t.co/ZWTmaqFwko
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Awesome Canada @CanGovTools · ↗
@citizenlab Will Maia's Oct 8 presentation on elections under attack in France be posted publicly after the conference?
The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Join senior researcher @WolfieChristl at @republica in Vienna on October 2nd to learn how government agencies are accessing behavioural data from online advertising for surveillance purposes. Register here: t.co/QxVtJ1hbre t.co/kRnI3efIYg
Image in @citizenlab's post: Join senior researcher @WolfieChristl at @republica in Vienna on October 2nd to learn how governmen…
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
1/ Two UN reports citing Citizen Lab submissions have been published this month. The first, from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, describes digital risks to human rights defenders. Read it here: t.co/olFSCnwgLb
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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2/ The second report from the Working Group on the use of mercenaries draws on Citizen Lab research to assess the human rights impacts of cybermercenaries. Read it here: t.co/HDJobA9LkF
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
The Citizen Lab submitted a response to a request for information from the Research Directorate at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the issue of the connection between state surveillance and repression in China and the Chinese government’s monitoring activity abroad. Read it here: t.co/3NKEUkCu58
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Join Citizen Lab director @RonDeibert in Toronto for his keynote speech at SecTor on October 7. He will be speaking about the Citizen Lab’s decades of work acting as “counterintelligence for civil society.” Register: t.co/n9JtG3nmZN t.co/0N5gsSrcT5
Image in @citizenlab's post: Join Citizen Lab director @RonDeibert in Toronto for his keynote speech at SecTor on October 7. H…
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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2/ Join senior research associate @KateRobertson_ on September 23 at 3:45 am EST to talk about upholding justice when law enforcement reaches across borders. Register: t.co/5rfKOx4emL
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
1/ Citizen Lab researchers are presenting at the @rightscon Continues Summit, a 24-hour online event on September 22-23! Senior researcher @jsrailton will be discussing the commercial spyware industry on September 22 at 4:15 pm CEST.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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3/ A report from BlackCore celebrates the success of their Angola training program, demonstrating the damage the influence-for-hire industry can do to an online ecosystem.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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2/ In our brief, we examine BlackCore’s digital infrastructure, including how they construct fake profiles and amplify content, and how they market themselves and their results to clients.
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Thread 🧵 1/ 🚨 NEW RESEARCH: We identified a training program provided to government employees in Angola by the Israeli influence-for-hire company BlackCore. Full report: t.co/ABjWCO1jrr
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · ↗ 🔏
Join senior fellow @Cyn_K tomorrow, September 15th at 7PM ET, for Civic Tech Toronto Meetup #560. She will present a recent joint brief by @citizenlab and @cancivlib that analyzes the privacy and human rights implications of Bill C-22. Register here: t.co/c29VALv6m6 t.co/fBGE6rPo8r
Image in @citizenlab's post: Join senior fellow @Cyn_K tomorrow, September 15th at 7PM ET, for Civic Tech Toronto Meetup #560. …
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab · reply ↗ 🔏
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2/ The letter cites the Citizen Lab’s 2020 research into BellTroX’s hack-for-hire operation, which found that it conducted commercial espionage on behalf of clients. Read it here: t.co/LiYu5RbfvX
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