AMERICAN CONGRESSMAN ON SURVEILLANCE IN SERBIA: Joe Wilson says the use of Pegasus and NoviSpy is unacceptable!

American Congressman Joe Wilson said that it is “unacceptable that Vučić’s regime used invasive spyware to surveil” citizens of Serbia, after international media reported on students and activists being targeted with Pegasus and domestic NoviSpy software.

“It is unacceptable that Vučić’s regime used invasive spyware to surveil and target Serbian citizens. This totalitarian technology is being abused against a free people demanding the rule of law,” he wrote in a post on the social network “X”, reacting to a Reuters article about the surveillance of Serbian activists.

Wilson is a Republican congressman from South Carolina and chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a congressional body dealing with security, human rights and democracy in Europe.

He began taking a closer interest in Serbia after the decision was made to hold the 2027 annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Belgrade, while he serves as head of the U.S. delegation.

He is one of the initiators of “Serbia ACT”, a proposed law that would provide for the possibility of U.S. sanctions and entry bans for individuals responsible for undermining democracy, peace and stability in Serbia and the region.

“Student protests are a great personal inspiration to me, and my interest is in free and fair elections in Serbia. For that to happen, the interests of the population must be respected. And I believe that the population recognizes that examples of success can be found in the West,” Wilson told Insajder.

It should be recalled that at yesterday’s first conference of students in blockade, it was announced that more than ten students and opposition members in Serbia had been targeted by spyware since the beginning of the year.

This attack represents the largest documented wave of such surveillance in the country, the Financial Times (FT) writes.

It is unacceptable that the Vucic regime has used invasive surveillance spyware to target Serbian citizens. This totalitarian technology is being weaponized against a free people demanding the rule of law.https://t.co/Ah7wL0ETMx
— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) September 2, 2026

Earlier Cases of Espionage

Amnesty first revealed previously unknown Android spyware in late 2024, naming it NoviSpy. According to forensic findings, it was used against journalists and activists in Serbia. It can extract data from phones and remotely activate the microphone and camera. Amnesty says that NoviSpy can be attributed to the BIA with a high degree of confidence.

In March 2025, Amnesty published evidence that two BIRN journalists in Serbia had been targeted by Pegasus spyware in February 2025.

In February 2025, Amnesty published findings concerning the phone of a Serbian student activist. Forensic analysis showed that Cellebrite was used to bypass the Android phone’s security and gain root access, after which an attempt was made to install an unknown Android application, consistent with previously documented cases involving NoviSpy. The company said in February 2025 that it had suspended the use of its products by “relevant users” in Serbia following Amnesty’s report.

These cases have been before the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime for two years.

In at least one case, confirmed by digital security experts in Canada, a student activist’s phone was remotely infected with Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli company NSO. In another case, domestically produced surveillance software known as NoviSpy was allegedly installed on a person’s device while they were in police custody, according to the FT.

This incident, Reuters writes, provides insight into the use of powerful and invasive spyware targeting students and members of the political opposition during a period of politically disputed elections and ahead of national elections.