The Pegasus scandal shocked the Indian Parliament. The issue of Israeli spyware allegedly used to spy on thousands of private citizens has made headlines over the past two weeks around the world and in some Indian media. Reports continue to appear in the media regarding Pegasus and its owner, the Israeli company NSO.
The Indian opposition demanded responses from Narendra Modi's government and took an uncompromising stance on “Pegasus first or not” during the monsoon session of Parliament. It is widely accepted that Pegasus is a technical issue involving the surveillance of over 300 Indian citizens, including journalists, politicians, and activists, and is not a widespread mass issue like Covid mismanagement or protests. of farmers against the new agricultural law.
However, it is still interesting to measure the awareness and understanding of the Pegasus problem among the general population of India.
A survey was conducted to measure the data people know about Pegasus across 12 states covering 356 districts.
Most people thought its a new vaccine for Covid-19 while a few of them were aware of the spyware program. When asked whether they think Modi Government is tapping Citizens phones or not. The most common answer was they don’t know while the second most was YES!