EU and UK spent millions on Israeli phone cracking tech despite risks

Cellebrite, an Israeli digital-forensics company, has become a major supplier to European law enforcement, despite a record of its phone-extraction tools being used in repressive contexts. The systems can bypass some device security measures to copy and analyse extensive data from phones and computers, including messages, location traces and potentially deleted material. Unlike remote spyware, they require physical access to a device, but their use can be difficult to detect. Past cases include Myanmar authorities using UFED-extracted phone data to help convict Reuters journalists investigating atrocities against Rohingya people, and Jordanian authorities examining activists’ and a journalist’s phones after protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

A procurement investigation identified more than 150 public contracts active from 2023 to mid-2026, worth €69.4 million, across 17 EU countries, Norway and the UK; Britain was the largest buyer, including a £7.9 million contract with London’s Metropolitan Police. The investigation also found EU funding for Cellebrite systems supplied to Moldova, despite documented police abuses there. The authors argue that limited disclosure and weak safeguards leave risks to journalists, racialised communities, activists and other people under investigation insufficiently addressed. The EU’s diplomatic service refused to reveal even the titles or registration numbers of records concerning its relationship with Cellebrite, citing public security. The findings raise questions about public oversight and whether technology developed within Israel’s security industry should become routine in European policing.