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.

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