Also on Monday, The Guardian reported that Sweden-based Libyan activist Husam El Gomati was also notified by WhatsApp as being one of the targets of the hacking campaign. El Gomati has been vocal criticizing Italy’s relationship with Libya, particularly an agreement between the two countries to stop immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean.

According to the chat service, an Israeli company called Paragon Solutions used group chats and PDFs to target the individuals.

WhatsApp has disrupted a spyware campaign last month that targeted journalists and civil society members, the company announced on Friday. The campaign originated from an Israeli spyware company called Paragon Solutions and impacted around 90 users.

WhatsApp told TechCrunch that it believed the hacking campaign happened in December, and that it sent a cease and desist letter to Paragon. Idan Nurick, the CEO of Paragon, did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. AE Industrial did not respond to a request for comment.

Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp messenger service said it disrupted a hacking campaign linked to Israeli spyware firm Paragon.

WASHINGTON >> An official with Meta Platforms’ popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.