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Israel’s Q Cyber Technologies has signed Mercury Public Affairs to a $1.2M contract for crisis communications, media outreach and government relations work regarding a federal suit filed in California that charges its technology was used to spy on hundreds of WhatsApp users.
Filed by Facebook and its WhatsApp unit, the suit alleges that Q Cyber and its NSO Group property “used WhatsApp servers, located in the United States and elsewhere, to send malware to approximately 1,400 mobile phones and devices.”
The suit filed Oct. 29 in US federal court for the Northern District of California charges the malware “was designed to infect the target devices for the purpose of conducting surveillance of specific WhatsApp users."
Q Cyber and NSO Group deny the allegations.
Mercury managing directors Nicole Flotteron, head of the global digital practice, and Ian McCaleb, a Fox News/CNN alum who was senior spokesperson for the Dept of Justice’s criminal division, handle the one-year Q Cyber Technologies pact.
NSO Group also has been linked to the Saudi Arabia campaign against dissident and former Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.
Omnicom owns Mercury.
Development Counsellors International has landed the Tourism Authority of Thailand as a tourism and business event destination account.
Former Georgia Republican Congressman Tom Graves is representing the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, positioning the country as a reliable partner with the US.
Bridges Partners is running an influencer campaign on behalf of Israel to promote the cultural interchange between it and the US.
San Diego’s Show Faith by Works is spreading pro-Israel messaging to Christian groups in the western US on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
KNP Communications has lined up a contract to provide media training to members of Canada’s US embassy.
