NSO permanently barred from targeting WhatsApp users with Pegasus spyware

A federal judge has ordered spyware maker NSO to stop using its Pegasus app to target or infect users of WhatsApp, in a ruling issued on 20 October 2025 by Phyllis J. Hamilton of the US District Court of the District of Northern California. According to the ruling, NSO must permanently cease targeting WhatsApp users, attempting to infect their devices, or intercept WhatsApp messages, and must delete any data obtained from those targets.

The suit, Meta’s case filed in 2019, alleged that NSO tried to surreptitiously infect about 1,400 mobile phones—many belonging to attorneys, journalists, human-rights activists, political dissidents, diplomats and senior foreign government officials—with Pegasus. The judge also denied Meta’s request to bar NSO from targeting other Meta platforms and determined that the harm Pegasus posed to Meta outweighed other considerations. Punitive damages were reduced from $167 million to $4 million, with the judge stating the original award was not based on the proper standard.