Surveillance of citizens and businesses is increasing sharply in Switzerland. One small canton in particular stands out for all the wrong reasons.
The latest annual report from the Office for the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic contains some explosive revelations.
But to grasp the full extent of the situation, Swiss citizens must also compare it with the previous year’s report from 2024.
Everything on the Rise
Then they will see that Switzerland is literally turning into a surveillance state.
The authorities and telecommunications companies – including Swisscom, Sunrise, Salt, and others – are significantly expanding surveillance and, with it, the use of taxpayer funds to monitor citizens and businesses.
In 2025, Swiss law enforcement agencies and the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) ordered approximately 40 percent more surveillance measures from the ÜPF than in the previous year.
Already Doubled previously
The sharp increase in surveillance measures is primarily attributable to the rise in antenna searches, the report added.
According to the agency, there are now nearly 700,000 simple queries. That’s almost 2,000 every day.
Real-time surveillance increased by about 3 percent, and retroactive surveillance by 6 percent.
But as early as 2024, the supervisory authority reported an exorbitant increase in surveillance measures.
In 2024, law enforcement agencies had already ordered more than twice as many surveillance measures as in 2023.
Explosion in Real-Time Surveillance
Even back then, the sharp rise in surveillance measures was primarily attributable to the significant increase in antenna scans, as the number of antenna scans had doubled for the first time.
Real-time surveillance had literally exploded by about 45 percent, and the number of retroactive surveillance operations was a quarter higher than in 2023.
Precise behavioral patterns discernible
Antenna searches are of particular interest to the authorities because they can see that the cell phones of, say, a journalist and a corporate CEO had logged in at exactly the same location.
Perhaps even a wanted criminal was registered at the same cell tower at the same time.
Based on this, government surveillance agencies can even see in which directions people disappeared, when, and how, because logging on to other cell towers and the speeds clearly reveal this as well.
Money Laundering and Tax Fraud
About half of taxpayer money is spent on tracking down financial crimes.
So, in principle, it’s about collecting tax revenue, and to that end, the Swiss government is continually expanding its surveillance of its citizens and businesses.
However, Switzerland provides no information on the success of the expanded measures.
Officials likely know that the results are completely out of proportion. Otherwise, they would certainly have reported it.
A Tenfold Increase
While in 2024, Switzerland’s most populous canton, Zurich, had taken the top spot in surveillance measures, this time Basel-Land is in the dubious position of first place.
In 2024, there were around 700 such queries in the canton of Basel-Stadt. That number has now risen to over 7,000 – a massive increase in just 12 months.
All these reports fail to mention the trend over multiple years. The Swiss people must piece together the facts themselves to understand the massive expansion of Switzerland’s surveillance state.
July 1, 2026/kut./ena.
