Controversial Method: Germany’s Customs Criminal Office Monitors Messenger Accounts
Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Germany’s Customs Criminal Office has used a new method to monitor messenger services as part of its regular operations since August 2025.
- An internal document reportedly shows that the agency had tested the procedure since late 2023.
- The method involves cloning messenger accounts and can remain unnoticed by affected users, while its legal basis remains unclear.
Germany’s Customs Criminal Office has been using a disputed method to monitor messenger accounts in regular operations since August 2025. The procedure can reportedly remain invisible to the people being monitored.
An internal document indicates that the agency began testing the method at the end of 2023 before putting it into routine use. The technique involves cloning a messenger account, allowing surveillance to continue without the affected user necessarily noticing.
The method has no clear legal basis so far, according to the report. That gap places the practice at the center of the controversy surrounding the Customs Criminal Office’s monitoring of messaging services.
About this summary
Originally published by Der Standard in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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