Private Data as a Weapon: How Surveillance and Digital Exposure Are Silencing Political Voices in the Americas

From spyware hidden in your phone to coordinated online harassment campaigns, private data and digital behavior are increasingly weaponized—not for targeted ads, but for targeted fear.

Spyware: The Silent Surveillance State

In the United States, privacy advocates are sounding alarms over sophisticated surveillance tools like Graphite, capable of covertly accessing smartphones. While touted as tools for law enforcement, such technologies risk being repurposed to monitor political activists, journalists, and dissidents without transparent oversight. Investigations have revealed past U.S. government interest in capabilities that could effectively “hack” the phones of targeted individuals.

In Latin America, these threats are no longer hypothetical—they’re operational. In El Salvador, at least 35 journalists and human rights defenders were infected with Pegasus spyware between 2020 and 2021. One El Faro reporter’s phone was monitored for an unprecedented 269 days. Evidence points strongly to state involvement.

Mexico has also deployed Pegasus widely. Under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, despite campaign promises to end illegal surveillance, Pegasus has been used against journalists, opposition figures, and human rights workers.

Laws Disguised as Protection

El Salvador recently passed two cybersecurity and data privacy laws, publicly framed as safeguards. But according to Human Rights Watch, they hand sweeping powers to a presidentially appointed body, enabling censorship under the guise of “privacy protection.”

In Mexico, state intimidation has taken brazen forms. In early 2024, President López Obrador publicly revealed the phone number of a New York Times reporter during a press conference—an act widely condemned as retaliatory and dangerous.

Digital Harassment as a Political Tool

Governments and political operatives are increasingly relying on bots and trolls to drown dissent in noise and threats. In Mexico, networks nicknamed “Peñabots” flooded social media with pro-government propaganda and harassment of critics during and after former President Peña Nieto’s administration.

Across Latin America, coordinated troll campaigns—often government-linked—systematically target journalists, activists, and opposition figures to smear reputations, discredit reporting, and exhaust critics into silence.

Doxing, Swatting, and the Danger of Exposure

Doxing—the public release of personal details such as home addresses or phone numbers—has become a weapon of political retribution. Victims of doxing are often subjected to swatting (false emergency calls prompting armed police raids) or direct threats to their families. These tactics are not just personal attacks; they are meant to send a warning to others: speak out and you’ll be next.

Manipulation Through Micro-Targeting

The infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal showed how personal data could be mined to profile and manipulate voters. While that case centered on elections, the same techniques are now used year-round to influence public opinion, intimidate activists, and polarize societies—eroding trust in democratic institutions.

Democracy Under Digital Siege

What is unfolding is more than a series of isolated abuses—it’s a transnational trend toward authoritarian digital governance. Surveillance technology, online harassment, and data-driven intimidation are being exported, adapted, and scaled across borders.

This erosion of privacy doesn’t just endanger individuals—it undermines press freedom, civic activism, and democratic accountability itself.

The Path Forward

• Strengthen Digital Security: Journalists and activists must use encrypted tools, practice rigorous digital hygiene, and limit personal data exposure online.
• Legislate for Privacy: Stronger, enforceable privacy laws must clearly limit state surveillance powers and guarantee oversight.
• Expose and Report: Investigative journalism remains one of the last lines of defense—shining light where intimidation thrives in the shadows.

The future of free speech in the Americas will not only be decided at the ballot box—it will be decided on the servers, data centers, and social media feeds where the battle for truth and control now rages.

Sources

• The Technology the Trump Administration Could Use to Hack Your Phone — The New Yorker
• Human Rights Watch warns of new threats to privacy, press freedom in El Salvador — Reuters
• El Salvador’s Pegasus Spyware Targeting Journalists — Time
• Clearview AI’s Expansion into Latin America — Time
• Pegasus Spyware Use in Mexico — Wikipedia
• Peñabots: Mexico’s Social Media Troll Networks — Wikipedia
• Press Under Attack in Latin America — Access Now
• Doxing — Wikipedia
• UNESCO on Profiling and Surveillance Threats to Free Expression
• Wilson Center: Spyware Threat to Journalism
• Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal — Wikipedia
• Keeping Your Personal Data Safe — Wired