Meta Triumphs as Spyware Firm NSO Suffers $168 Million Setback in Landmark Court Battle

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (News in A Day) – Meta Platforms emerged victorious with a $168 million judgment against Israel’s renowned surveillance enterprise, NSO Group. The announcement was made on Tuesday, marking the conclusion of an intense six-year legal battle pitting one of the U.S.'s largest social media networks against the leading producer of spyware technology.

In an earlier decision in December, Meta secured a victory when it was determined that NSO had illegally taken advantage of a flaw in WhatsApp to install surveillance software on users’ devices. Recently, a jury in California decided that NSO must pay Meta $444,719 for compensation and add another $167.3 million as punishment, according to Meta.

Meta stated in a release, "The ruling today regarding WhatsApp marks a significant advancement for privacy and security; it’s the initial triumph over the creation and deployment of illicit surveillance tools that endanger the well-being and confidentiality of all individuals."

In its statement, NSO said it would "carefully examine the verdict's details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal."

An Israeli company called NSO, which gained international recognition since 2016, has turned into "the emblem of the spyware sector and its misuses along with the lack of accountability," according to Natalia Krapiva, a senior attorney at Access Now, a human rights organization. Despite arguing that their software targets terrorists and child predators, NSO has faced allegations involving misuse of surveillance technology across various nations such as Saudi Arabia, Spain, Mexico, Poland, and El Salvador.

WhatsApp's lawsuit - which was filed in 2019 and at one point made its way to the Supreme Court - has been closely followed both by NSO's competitors in the surveillance technology space and by human rights advocates critical of the industry.

Targets of government-sponsored cyberattacks have found it challenging to make spyware vendors responsible for how their clients use these tools. Meanwhile, companies selling such hacking tools have often been concerned about facing legal repercussions due to potential misuse. The court ruling against the attackers in the WhatsApp case indicated that both scenarios—holding sellers liable as well as imposing penalties—are feasible, according to Krapiva.

She stated that this hopes to demonstrate to spyware firms that there will be repercussions if they are negligent, bold, and behave similarly to how NSO acted in these instances.

In addition to delivering a message to spyware vendors, the case also offered a modest glimpse into the internal operations of NSO.

In court proceedings, details emerged regarding NSO’s extensive research division consisting of approximately 140 members who had been allocated a substantial annual budget totaling $50 million. This funding supported their efforts aimed at identifying weaknesses within smartphone security systems. The firm's legal representative acknowledged publicly that among its clientele were countries such as Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico—unusual disclosures considering the secretive nature typically surrounding NSO’s customer roster.

A lot concerning the objectives and patrons of this surveillance software enterprise stays shrouded in mystery partly due to their reluctance to furnish critical proof. According to District Judge Phyllis Hamilton’s decision made in December, NSO has been reproached for “consistently failing to provide pertinent discoveries and disregarding judicial directives pertaining to these disclosures.” Last year, The Guardian disclosed that Israeli authorities had confiscated documentation from NSO with the intention of thwarting those records from reaching American courts.

"This whole case is shrouded in so much secrecy," Hamilton said during the trial. "There's so much that's not known."

(Reported by Raphael Satter; Edited by Nick Zieminski)