Statement by Palazzo Chigi | www.governo.it

With regard to what has been published by some media outlets about alleged espionage activities targeting members of the press, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers rules out that individuals protected under Law no. 124 of 3 August 2007 (the intelligence system for the security of the Republic and new regulations on secrecy), including journalists, have been subjected to checks by Italy’s intelligence services, and therefore by the Government.

As the Government considers this matter to be particularly serious, it has involved the National Cybersecurity Agency (‘Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale’, ‘ACN’), which operates under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. From discussions between the ACN and Advant, the law firm appointed by WhatsApp Ireland Limited, it has emerged that seven Italian mobile phone users appear to have been affected to date. To protect their privacy, the ACN has not been informed of the identity of these mobile phone users, who have been directly notified by the abovementioned company.

Based on these discussions, it is understood that the mobile phone numbers involved so far have prefixes of the following countries, in addition to Italy: Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
WhatsApp Ireland Limited is the Meta company that operates in the European market, which explains why the information that has come to light refers only to countries in the European Union.

For any other issue falling under the responsibility of the intelligence services regarding use of the instruments in question, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers confirms its readiness to report to the parliamentary committee in charge of monitoring the work of said services (the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic – ‘Copasir’