Comment by Quanttek

> The problem is that state-level actors don't just have a lot of money; they (and their decision makers) also put a much much lower value on their money than you do.

I think you have a false perception of the budgetary constraints mid-level state actors are dealing with. Most security agencies have set budgets and a large number of objectives to achieve, so they'll prioritize cost-effective solutions/cheap problems (whereby the cost is both financial and political but finances act as hard constraint). Germany actually didn't buy Pegasus largely because it was too expensive.

Without Pegasus, Morocco's security apparatus probably wouldn't have the resources otherwise to target such a wide variety of people, ranging from Macron to their own king.