The Israeli electronic surveillance company NSO Group was ordered to pay $167 million in damages to WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, bringing a close to six years of litigation.
WhatsApp filed suit against NSO in 2019 in U.S. federal court, alleging it hacked 1,400 WhatsApp users, including journalists and government officials, using its Pegasus surveillance tool.
The ruling Tuesday marks a major win for privacy advocates that have fought against the company’s spyware. It is also the latest setback for NSO, which was sanctioned by the United States in November 2021 after revelations that its products enabled repressive regimes to spy on dissidents, journalists and humanitarian workers.
The same month, Apple also filed a lawsuit against NSO seeking to prevent the company from using Apple software. In September, Apple sought to drop the suit, arguing that its disclosures could aid NSO.
WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart said in a post on X that “the jury’s verdict today to punish NSO is a critical deterrent to the spyware industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and our users worldwide.”
The ruling, which was delivered by Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, found that the company had broken cybersecurity laws and used its “zero-click” spyware to hack the accounts.
Pegasus is able to remotely infect user’s devices without their knowledge. NSO vehemently denied the allegations during the trial, and argued that it was not responsible for how its customers used the spyware.
“We will carefully examine the verdict’s details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal,” said Gil Lainer, NSO vice president for global communication, in a statement. “We firmly believe that our technology plays a critical role in preventing serious crime and terrorism and is deployed responsibly by authorized government agencies.”
NSO was ordered to pay $167 million in punitive damages to WhatsApp as well as $444,000 in compensatory damages.
In a blog post following the verdict, WhatsApp said it will make a donation to “digital rights organizations that are working to defend people against such attacks around the world,” and will seek a court order preventing NSO from attacking WhatsApp again.
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