Court Clash: Meta Wins $168 Million Case Against Spyware Firm NSO

In a landmark legal victory, Meta Platforms has won a settlement against Israeli spyware firm NSO Group for $168 million marking an end of a six year court battle over the company’s illegal surveillance activities. The California jury awarded $444,719 in compensatory damages and a whopping $167.3 million in punitive damages marking the first judicial victory against the illegal development and use of spyware.

The lawsuit began in 2019 when Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp sued NSO for using its Pegasus spyware against a vulnerability in WhatsApp’s call system. This attack affected more than 1,000 users globally among them human rights defenders, journalists, diplomats and civil society leaders. Meta’s engineers were able to identify and stop the attack in partnership with Citizen Lab and informed all impacted users.

NSO stated its tools were for tracking criminals but evidence presented in court demonstrated widespread abuse of its spyware software including by clients of NSO from Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The trial provided an unprecedented glimpse into NSO’s operations, revealing a $50 million research and development budget and a team of 140 researchers that focused primarily on exploiting weaknesses in smartphones.

Meta stressed that Pegasus could steal any type of user data, remotely operate microphones and cameras and bypass encryption which posed a serious privacy threat to individuals around the world. Although NSO would not agree to a full discovery, District Judge Phyllis Hamilton called out the company for defying order on multiple occasions.

Meta is now asking the court for a permanent order against NSO from targeting WhatsApp and will donate any damages awarded to social justice and digital rights organizations. In this regard, the ruling sends a strong message that spyware companies who are illegally surveilling and targeting people will be held to account. Meta is also releasing deposition transcripts as they both promote ongoing research that seeks to examine and expose the abuse and violations associated with spyware.