NSO: Almost 168 million dollars fine for WhatsApp surveillance

Five years ago, it became known that hundreds of WhatsApp users had been spied on. The developer of the surveillance software has now been fined heavily.

A developer of surveillance software is to pay almost 168 million dollars to the Facebook group Meta for spying on WhatsApp users. A jury in California decided that Meta is entitled to just under 445,000 dollars in damages from the Israeli company NSO – plus a penalty payment of 167.25 million dollars. NSO will consider an appeal, a spokesperson told the technology blog “The Verge”.

The Facebook Group sued NSO in 2019 after it was discovered that the company was able to infiltrate its surveillance software called Pegasus into smartphones via a vulnerability. Pegasus was then able to switch on the camera and microphone, access emails and text messages and retrieve location data, among other things, without users noticing. The software was used against journalists and activists, among others.

The court already ruled in December that NSO’s actions violated the law. The current proceedings were about the amount of the fine. NSO argued in the trial that the company’s technology supported investigative authorities and intelligence agencies. However, the US government had already blacklisted the company in 2021.

dpa