Hacked Tunisian telecom app sends message criticising authorities

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Tunis: Tunisia's state-owned mobile operator, Tunisie Telecom, was targeted by a political cyberattack over the weekend. Hackers hijacked the company's official mobile application to broadcast a push notification directly to customers criticising the country’s current government.

The rogue notification, titled ‘A Cry for Tunisia: Freedom Is Not a Crime,’ condemned a severe rollback of civil liberties and a suffocating domestic economic crisis. Surprised users across the North African country quickly took screenshots of the political protest message and shared them widely on social media.

The incident highlights growing domestic frustration, as international human rights organisations have repeatedly denounced a severe decline in freedoms under President Kais Saied. Saied has continuously granted himself extensive governing powers following a dramatic political power grab in July 2021.

Tunisie Telecom initially blamed the interruption on app maintenance before officially acknowledging the security breach. The operator confirmed that the intrusion was successfully neutralized without compromising user data security or interrupting services.