Overview
- U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton issued a permanent injunction ordering NSO Group to stop targeting or attempting to infect WhatsApp users and to delete data obtained from those operations.
- The ruling stems from Meta’s 2019 suit alleging NSO sought to compromise about 1,400 devices belonging to journalists, lawyers, activists, diplomats, and officials using Pegasus.
- The court framed unauthorized access to encrypted communications as direct business harm to services that market informational privacy to users.
- The injunction is limited to WhatsApp and does not directly restrain NSO’s government or law‑enforcement customers, narrowing the scope of relief Meta sought.
- NSO said the order threatens its enterprise but welcomed the 97% damages reduction, and reporting in Israel indicated a U.S. investor group recently took control of the company.