president Joe Biden issued an executive order on Monday restricting the US government’s use of surveillance tools.

What happened: The President restricted the use of commercial spyware tools that give governments the power to hack into people’s cellphones, extract data and track their movements.

The new rules came after at least 50 US government officials were stationed in at least 10 countries was hacked with spywarea senior administrator, a larger number than previously known.

See also: Pentagon Worries China Using Cargo Cranes To Spy: WSJ

Both democratic and autocratic countries around the world have misused spyware to monitor journalists, human rights activists and individuals with dissident political views.

The new regulation bans federal agencies from using commercial spyware that could be misused by foreign governments, potentially target citizens outside the country, or pose security threats if installed on US government networks.

However, the order applies only to spyware created and distributed by commercial companies and not to tools developed by US intelligence agencies.

The executive order also allows use in certain circumstances and does not impose a blanket ban.

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