GrapheneOS is only an initial target for these state actors and their sycophants in corporate news organizations. Apple heavily works on protecting users against exploits too. It would be much harder to convince the public that an iPhone is for criminals so they're starting with open source.
See https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/paniek-in-onderwereld-politie-valt-massaal-binnen-op-zoek-naar-google-pixel-telefoons~a6b87c33/ for an example of what's ongoing in the Netherlands to scare people away from using open source privacy projects. It's also ongoing in Germany at the same time with similar talking points. This largely started in Spain and has been worst in France.
These countries are increasingly crack down on end-to-end encryption, financial privacy and secure devices. The same countries want you to believe that you should use products and services built within their borders under their control, especially ones which are heavily state and EU funded.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-probes-toronto-shooter-for-hire-impenetrable-phone-graphene-os/ is a very fair and balanced article. They did proper research and talked to experts.
That's entirely unlike nearly all of the coverage by the media in Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. In the few cases we were asked for our perspective, nearly nothing we said was included. They acted as sycophants for the state and did not challenge or verify their claims.
Why is it that nearly all the western European news coverage is sycophantic?
Spain is where law enforcement first began smearing GrapheneOS in the media, specifically in the Catalonia region where it's known the Spanish government has mass deployed commercial remote exploits against political opponents.
@GrapheneOS with friendly support of Israeli spyware company Pegasus
@bhg
Yay
A small sample of the state media campaign against GrapheneOS in France which has happened alongside Murena's similar attacks:
https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/telephones-proteges-utilises-par-les-narcotrafiquants-rien-nest-inviolable-19-11-2025-3PP34GIBAJGH3EZOVEJVT7OMU4.php
https://archive.is/8Jo17
https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/google-pixel-et-grapheneos-la-botte-secrete-des-narcotrafiquants-pour-proteger-leurs-donnees-de-la-police-19-11-2025-NTGPQE4JCNGEHLF7XGIQ3CCA2I.php
https://archive.is/AhMsj
Nov 1, 2026, 8:39 AM@GrapheneOS what a sad state of journalism when a piece of software “worrying” the authorities is enough to send it to print. shallow.