Governments are supposed to protect their citizens. But what happens when citizens start wondering whether their government is watching them instead?
That uncomfortable question is now echoing through Austria’s political chambers, after it emerged that the Interior Ministry quietly spent €847,000 in late 2024 on a powerful surveillance software called “Tangles” and then flatly refused to discuss it, according to Kurier.
The purchase, first reported by Der Standard and confirmed through an EU procurement database, has ignited a sharp political controversy. The software is capable of monitoring internet activity, social media platforms and even the dark web. Notably, it is also used by the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency ICE, an organisation itself no stranger to controversy and criticism over aggressive tactics.
Green Party digital spokesperson Süleyman Zorba raised the alarm in parliament, pointing out that an additional module called “Webloc” potentially also purchased, could grant authorities access to individuals’ real time location data. Whether Austria bought this extra tool remains unknown, because Interior Minister Gerhard Karner of the conservative ÖVP party chose not to answer. His ministry cited “essential external and internal security interests of the Republic of Austria” as justification for its silence, redirecting critics toward a secretive parliamentary subcommittee whose sessions are held behind closed doors.
Zorba was unimpressed. “The public has a right to know how their rights and data are being handled,” he said firmly.
The far-right FPÖ was equally sharp in its criticism. Party Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz accused the ÖVP of harbouring “surveillance fantasies” and suggested the ministry’s silence indicated something was being deliberately concealed. If the software were purely for counter-terrorism, he argued, the minister could simply have said so.
Adding another layer of concern is the software’s supplier. The tools are distributed by American company PenLink, which merged in 2023 with Israeli firm Cobwebs Technologies. In 2021, Meta Facebook’s parent company removed around 200 accounts linked to Cobwebs operations, reportedly used to infiltrate private online communities and manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive personal information.
For now, Austria’s citizens are left with a troubling paradox; a government that purchased tools to watch others, yet refuses to be watched itself.
