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The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed Dada v. NSO Group, finding that journalists and staff from Salvadoran news outlet El Faro had not established jurisdiction in California. The plaintiffs alleged that NSO Group developed, sold and assisted deployments of its Pegasus spyware in violation of U.S. law, arguing that compromised infrastructure in California justified hearing the case there. The Knight First Amendment Institute and Selendy Gay PLLC filed the lawsuit in November 2022; the plaintiffs intend to appeal after an earlier appellate ruling vacated a prior dismissal and returned the case for further consideration.
According to the Knight Institute, El Faro employees, including lead plaintiff Carlos Dada, experienced at least 226 Pegasus infections between June 2020 and November 2021, with attacks becoming more frequent before major investigations were published. The alleged compromises enabled remote access to their iPhones, surveillance of communications and activity, and theft of personal data. The plaintiffs sought deletion of the collected information and identification of the NSO client responsible for the surveillance. The dismissal addresses jurisdiction rather than resolving the underlying spyware allegations.
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A judge dismissed the lawsuit, describing it as entirely foreign and finding that it could not be tried in California.
The Knight First Amendment Institute and Selendy Gay PLLC filed Dada v. NSO Group, alleging that NSO violated U.S. law by developing, selling, and assisting in Pegasus deployments against El Faro personnel. The plaintiffs sought deletion of collected information and identification of the client responsible for the surveillance.
El Faro journalists and staff experienced at least 226 Pegasus infections between June 2020 and November 2021. The attacks enabled covert access to their iPhones, monitoring of communications and activities, and theft of personal data.
The Knight First Amendment Institute stated that the El Faro plaintiffs intend to appeal the district court's latest dismissal.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the case following NSO Group's renewed motion, finding that the plaintiffs had not established jurisdiction in California. The plaintiffs had argued that the attacks used compromised infrastructure located in the state.
An appeals court vacated the earlier dismissal of Dada v. NSO Group and returned the case to the district court for further consideration.
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A U.S. federal judge has issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company, from targeting or infecting WhatsApp users with its Pegasus spyware. The ruling, delivered by Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the Northern District of California, stems from a lawsuit filed by Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, in 2019 after NSO was discovered attempting to compromise approximately 1,400 WhatsApp users, including attorneys, journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, diplomats, and senior government officials. NSO's campaign involved creating fake WhatsApp accounts and targeting Meta's infrastructure to deploy Pegasus, a sophisticated zero-click spyware tool known for exploiting vulnerabilities in widely used software. The court found that NSO's actions caused direct business harm to Meta by undermining the privacy and security assurances that WhatsApp offers its users, particularly its end-to-end encryption based on the Signal Protocol. Judge Hamilton emphasized that unauthorized access to users' personal information constitutes more than reputational damage; it directly interferes with the core service Meta provides. In addition to the injunction, the court ordered NSO to delete any data obtained from targeting WhatsApp users. The judge also reduced the punitive damages awarded to Meta from $167 million to $4 million, citing legal precedents regarding the proportionality of damages to the conduct in question. While NSO argued that the injunction could force it out of business, the company stated that the ruling does not apply to its customers, who may continue using its technology, though legal experts and advocates for spyware victims dispute this interpretation. The decision is seen as a significant precedent for technology companies seeking to protect their platforms from commercial spyware and unlawful surveillance. Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, celebrated the ruling as a victory for user privacy and a warning to those who attempt to circumvent encryption protections. The case highlights the ongoing legal and ethical challenges posed by commercial spyware vendors and the importance of judicial intervention in safeguarding digital privacy. The ruling is the culmination of six years of litigation and is expected to influence future cases involving unlawful electronic surveillance. NSO Group, recently acquired by a consortium led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds, is reviewing the decision but welcomed the reduction in damages. Privacy advocates have praised the court's recognition of the irreparable harm caused by circumventing end-to-end encryption and the broader implications for protecting civil society from targeted surveillance.
Jun 29, 2026
A UK court ordered the Kingdom of **Saudi Arabia** to pay **£3 million** in damages to London-based Saudi dissident **Ghanem Al-Masarir** after finding his iPhones were infected with **NSO Group’s Pegasus** spyware as part of a 2018 targeting campaign attributed to a Saudi operator dubbed **KINGDOM**. The ruling credited expert evidence from **Citizen Lab** researcher **Bill Marczak**, and the damages award covered injury, costs, and lost earnings tied to the spyware targeting and related harms; the decision was framed by advocates as a rare avenue for accountability for victims of mercenary spyware and transnational repression. Separately, civil society groups warned that spyware vendors linked to human rights abuses are attempting to launder their reputations by engaging with diplomatic initiatives intended to curb misuse of commercial hacking tools. The criticism followed an **NSO Group** “transparency report” highlighting its claimed participation in the **Pall Mall Process**—a French- and UK-led effort to develop governance for *Commercial Cyber Intrusion Capabilities (CCICs)*—even as officials said NSO was not invited and participation does not equate to human-rights compliance; critics pointed to continued allegations of Pegasus abuse, including reported targeting of journalists and civil society in countries such as **Serbia**.
Jun 29, 2026
A U.S. federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against the Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group, prohibiting the company from using its technology to hack WhatsApp, one of the world's most widely used encrypted messaging applications. The court found that NSO Group had illegally reverse-engineered WhatsApp using a zero-day exploit, which resulted in the compromise of approximately 1,400 user devices. This exploit allowed unauthorized access to personal information, undermining the security and privacy of WhatsApp users globally. The case was brought before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where Judge Phyllis Hamilton presided over the proceedings. A California jury previously determined that NSO Group's actions constituted a breach, and initially awarded $167 million in punitive damages to Meta, WhatsApp's parent company. NSO Group appealed the ruling, arguing that the damages were excessive and that the injunction would effectively shut down its operations. In her final order, Judge Hamilton reduced the damages to $4 million but maintained the permanent injunction, emphasizing the broader harm caused by unauthorized access to encrypted personal information. The court's decision also requires NSO Group to destroy any code used in the WhatsApp hack, further limiting the company's ability to conduct similar operations in the future. Meta representatives welcomed the verdict, describing it as a significant advancement for user privacy and security. The ruling highlighted NSO Group's alleged role in enabling governments to target dissidents, political opponents, and journalists through its spyware. The case underscores the legal and ethical challenges posed by commercial spyware vendors and their impact on global digital privacy. The court's findings reinforce the importance of robust encryption and the need for legal protections against unauthorized surveillance. The decision sets a precedent for holding spyware vendors accountable for facilitating unauthorized access to secure communications platforms. The outcome of this litigation may influence future regulatory and legal actions against similar companies. The case also demonstrates the willingness of U.S. courts to intervene in matters involving foreign technology firms and the protection of user data. The permanent injunction serves as a warning to other entities considering the development or deployment of similar surveillance tools. The legal battle between Meta and NSO Group has drawn international attention to the risks associated with commercial spyware and the necessity of safeguarding encrypted communications.
Jun 29, 2026