Cellebrite, the Israeli firm behind law enforcement's most powerful phone-cracking tools, just revealed a troubling double standard in how it polices government abuse of its technology. The company cut off Serbia after allegations of misuse but continues serving Jordan and Kenya despite fresh reports of surveillance overreach, raising urgent questions about the consistency of its human rights commitments and the accountability gap in the surveillance tech industry.
Cellebrite, the company that's become synonymous with breaking into locked smartphones for law enforcement, is facing hard questions about which governments it's willing to cut off when abuse allegations surface. The contrast couldn't be starker: Serbia got the axe, but Jordan and Kenya remain customers despite similar red flags.
The Israeli surveillance firm made headlines when it terminated its relationship with Serbian authorities, citing credible reports that its phone-unlocking tools were being weaponized against civil society. It was a rare public move in an industry where client lists are closely guarded secrets and human rights policies often amount to little more than boilerplate language on corporate websites.
But according to reporting by TechCrunch, that principled stance appears to have its limits. Fresh allegations from Citizen Lab, the University of Toronto research group that's exposed surveillance abuses worldwide, point to potential misuse of Cellebrite technology in both Jordan and Kenya. Yet this time, Cellebrite isn't cutting anyone off. Instead, the company says it's changed its approach to handling such situations.
The shift raises uncomfortable questions for a company that sells tools powerful enough to extract every text message, photo, and location ping from encrypted devices. If Cellebrite draws the line at Serbia but not elsewhere, what exactly triggers enforcement of its human rights commitments? And who decides which governments cross that threshold?
