SERBIA: CELLEBRITE HALTS PRODUCT USE IN SERBIA FOLLOWING AMNESTY SURVEILLANCE REPORT

Announcing its decision in a statement issued on 25 February 2025, Cellebrite stated that, “After a review of the allegations brought forth by the December 2024 Amnesty International report, Cellebrite took precise steps to investigate each claim in accordance with our ethics and integrity policies

Responding to Cellebrite’s announcement that it will stop the use of its digital forensic equipment for some of their customers in Serbia, following Amnesty International’s report on the misuse of spyware and mobile forensic products by Serbian authorities to unlawfully target activists and journalists, Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, Head of the Security Lab at Amnesty International, said: 

“This decision reinforces Amnesty International’s December findings that Serbian police and intelligence routinely misused Cellebrite’s digital forensic equipment outside legally sanctioned processes to target civil society activists and independent journalists critical of the government.  

“Withdrawing licences from customers who misused the equipment for political reasons is a critical first step. Now, Serbian authorities must urgently conduct their own thorough and impartial investigations, hold those responsible to account, provide remedies to victims and establish adequate safeguards to prevent future abuse.     

Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, Head of the Security Lab at Amnesty International

“This important finding demonstrates that Cellebrite’s due diligence processes should be revamped to ensure its products are not being used to abuse human rights. It is crucial that this is done before reinstating suspended customers or issuing new licences to any customers in Serbia.  

“Any further exports of surveillance or digital forensics technology to Serbia must be stopped until the authorities have implemented an effective and independent system of control and oversight over any measures that could restrict people’s right to privacy, freedom of expression or peaceful assembly.” 

Background 

Announcing its decision in a statement issued on 25 February 2025, Cellebrite stated that, “After a review of the allegations brought forth by the December 2024 Amnesty International report, Cellebrite took precise steps to investigate each claim in accordance with our ethics and integrity policies. We found it appropriate to stop the use of our products by the relevant customers at this time.” 

It added that it takes “seriously all allegations of a customer’s potential misuse of our technology in ways that would run counter to both explicit and implied conditions outlined in our end-user agreement.” 

The Cellebrite UFED suite of products, developed for law enforcement and government entities, allow data extraction from various mobile devices, even without access to device passcodes. 

Amnesty International’s report, “A Digital Prison: Surveillance and the Suppression of Civil Society in Serbia,” released in December last year, detailed how mobile forensic products were used to extract data from journalists and activists’ mobile devices, and in some cases enabled the infection of those phones with spyware. 

This digital surveillance in Serbia is taking place amid ongoing anti-government demonstrations and persistent harassment of civil society critical of the authorities. On Tuesday, Serban police raided the offices of four NGOs to investigate the alleged “abuse of USAID funds,” citing statements by senior US Government officials on the USAID funding freeze.