Key facts
- Bulgaria has licensed Circles, a surveillance technology company, to Azerbaijan, Serbia, Malaysia, and Mexico.
- Circles is an affiliate of the NSO Group, known for its Pegasus spyware.
- The licenses were approved despite concerns over human rights abuses in the recipient nations.
Bulgaria has issued licenses to Circles, a surveillance technology company based in Sofia, allowing the export of its technology to Azerbaijan, Serbia, Malaysia, and Mexico. Circles is an affiliate of the NSO Group, an Israeli firm widely recognized for developing the controversial Pegasus spyware. The decision to license the technology to countries with records of human rights abuses was revealed through documents obtained by POLITICO.