Maltese journalists have joined an international call urging the European Parliament to take action on the threat of spyware surveillance across the continent.

Ahead of the upcoming vote of the draft report on the proposed European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), journalists in Europe are calling on MEPs to introduce an absolute ban on the surveillance of journalists through spyware.

“Some of us, and many of our colleagues across Europe and the world, have been unlawfully targeted in the past years, including by EU Member States,” the European Federation of Journalists said.

“Some of whom have used intrusive surveillance weapons against us, threatening and potentially breaching confidential communications with our sources, invading our private lives and putting our safety at risk,” they continued. 

“Spyware is today a major threat to press freedom.”

The group is also calling on other journalists to join their call by signing the open letter to MEPs, which you can do so by following this link. The deadline to sign is 20th September.

Journalists pointed out how spyware gives access to a disproportionate and unrestricted amount of data – “all the individual’s communications, photos, contacts and online behaviour data are collected – without the knowledge of the victim”.

They pointed out that “several EU governments have infected journalists’ phones with spyware while using national security as a pretext”.

“The EU must urgently put an end to it.”