[thrance]

Don't fall into this reductionist thinking, there is no secret cabal behind it. It's not even coordinated.

This wave of authoritarianism is simply the result of well-funded right-wing populists taking advantage of an economically tough situation for the masses, after decades of neoliberalist austerity and deregulation. They're using fear and hate to further the goals of their wealthy patrons: deregulating the economy further. Mass surveillance comes for free with these people, it's purely a consequence of focusing the entire public discourse on perceived crime levels and fear of foreigners.

The two articles attacking GrapheneOS come from right-wing rags: Le Figaro and Le Parisien, who make their bread and butter painting a bleak picture of the country, when crime levels are at an all-times low. QED

[tetris11]

the well-funded part suggests a coordinated cabal

[thrance]

If a loose collection of powerful individuals using their wealth and influence to support a certain group of politicians and ideas sounds like a cabal to you, then yes. For all practical purposes, you needn't dig deeper than "wealthy people funding pro-business politicians, using right-wing populism as a tool".