Authorities in Jordan appear to have used an Israeli digital tool to extract information from the mobile phones of activists and protesters critical of Israel and supportive of Gaza, according to a new report by the Citizen Lab. The multiyear investigation found with high confidence that Jordanian security authorities used forensic extraction tools made by Cellebrite against members of civil society, including two political activists, a student organiser and a human rights defender.
Cellebrite's tool, when deployed with physical access to a phone, can extract photos, videos, chats, files, saved passwords, location history, wifi history, phone usage records, web history, social media accounts and sometimes deleted data. The Citizen Lab, which investigates digital threats against civil society, said its forensic investigation of devices previously seized by Jordanian authorities, along with court records, indicated that the use of Cellebrite likely violated human rights treaties Jordan has ratified. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Jordan must comply with strict limits on targeting political dissidents and civil society with surveillance technology.
Researchers analysed four mobile phones between January 2024 and June 2025 belonging to Jordanian civil society members who had been detained, arrested or interrogated by authorities, finding all had been subjected to forensic extraction using Cellebrite. In one case, the iPhone of a political activist was seized after interrogation by Jordan's General Intelligence Department and held for 35 days. In another, a student activist who refused to provide a passcode had the phone unlocked using Apple's Face ID held up to their face; after being released from prison, the activist found the passcode written on tape stuck to the phone. Analysis later showed the device had been connected to an external device attributed to Cellebrite and to a cybercrime unit in Amman while in custody.
In a statement, a Cellebrite spokesperson said the company's technology is forensic and used to access private data only in accordance with legal due process or appropriate consent. The company vets potential customers against internal human rights parameters and ceases business in jurisdictions where risks are deemed incompatible with its values. It added that it takes all allegations of potential misuse seriously and reviews them. The Jordanian government did not respond to a request for comment.
Cellebrite products have reportedly been used to target members of civil society in other parts of the world, including Myanmar, Botswana, Serbia and Belarus.
