Thread by @FbdnStories

You might be wondering how the #PegasusProject came together: more than 80 journalists from 17 medias in 10 countries working on one global surveillance story.

A #thread on the "making-of" of the leak heard around the world. 1/11

It all started with more than 50,000 records of phone numbers, accessed by @FbdnStories and @AmnestyTech.

The goal? Put faces, and stories, behind the numbers. 2/11

Through open-source research, colleague's phone books and the technical know-how of @AmnestyTech, we began to put together the outline of the stories that were released this week. 3/11

We knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime leak and we needed to join forces with our partners to have the greatest impact.

Founder @laurentrichard0 and EIC @sandrinerigaud made the first calls, in utmost secrecy, to newsrooms around the world. 4/11

The partners agreed to meet in Paris in the middle of a global pandemic knowing few details about the data and the stories they were about to discover.

The #PegasusProject was launched. 5/11

For months, journalists communicated through secure means and reported on the ground in more than 10 countries: France, India, Belgium, Mexico, Lebanon, the UK and the US.

They collected additional sources, documents, testimonies on more than 30 simultaneous investigations. 6/11

From Paris, the @FbdnStories team investigated leads and coordinated the stories from afar: @PalomaDinechin on Mexico, @AudreyTravere on UAE and Saudi Arabia, @PhineasJFR on India.

@laurentrichard0 & @sandrinerigaud oversaw the small operation of 7 full-time journalists. 7/11

Journalists from the #PegasusProject discovered that many of their colleagues were in the data. In total, more than 180 journalists in 20 countries were selected as potential targets.

@AmnestyTech performed forensics on many of them, revealing dozens of #Pegasus infections. 8/11

The reaction to the #PegasusProject has been overwhelming. Amazon shut down infrastructure used by NSO Group. India erupted into protest. France called for an official investigation into possible hacking of politicians. 9/11

Today, the Kingdom of Morocco, hand delivered a letter to our office. Morocco has filed a complaint against us for defamation. 10/11

@FbdnStories is committed to pushing the #PegasusProject forward and to pursuing the investigations of threatened reporters around the world. If you want to help us continue these types of impactful investigations, support us here:

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