US Court Bans NSO Group from WhatsApp, Fines $4M+ – MediaNama

The United States District Court for Northern California ruled in favor of Meta in its lawsuit against Israeli spyware manufacturer NSO Group on October 17, permanently prohibiting the latter from accessing Meta’s messaging platform, WhatsApp, and imposing punitive damages of over $4 million. The NSO Group is known for creating the Pegasus spyware, which was allegedly used to infect the devices of numerous prominent activists, journalists, and politicians across the world. The NSO Group exploited a vulnerability in WhatsApp that allowed it to inject malicious code into a user’s device simply through a WhatsApp call. Users did not even have to pick up the call for the exploit to work. Meta sued the NSO Group soon after these revelations were made public in 2019. The lawsuit charged the Israeli firm with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and sought an injunction prohibiting the NSO Group from accessing WhatsApp, alongside monetary damages. Meta won the lawsuit in 2024, with the court holding the NSO Group liable for its actions. Another trial the following year granted Meta over $167 million in damages. The court then moved to consider Meta’s motion for a permanent injunction against the NSO Group, as well as
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