Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group Technologies Ltd. today was ordered to pay $167 million in damages to Meta, ending a six-year court battle after NSO was accused of installing spyware on journalists’ and activists’ WhatsApp accounts.

“Today’s verdict in WhatsApp’s case is an important step forward for privacy and security as the first victory against the development and use of illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone,” Meta said in a statement. “Today, the jury’s decision to force NSO, a notorious foreign spyware merchant, to pay damages is a critical deterrent to this malicious industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and the privacy and security of the people we serve.”

Meta sued the group in 2019 after the Toronto-based research laboratory Citizen Lab found that the spyware vendor had installed the notorious Pegasus spyware on 1,400 WhatsApp accounts belonging to journalists, activists, and government officials. Once installed, the account owner’s camera and microphone could be turned on, while location information, emails and text messages were accessible. The software could be installed simply by sending a text message, and no action was required from the user.

At the time, WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart wrote in the Washington Post that this “should serve as a wake-up call for technology companies, governments and all internet users.”

Described as the “most potent piece of software ever developed,” Pegasus became the focal point of a lawsuit launched by Apple Inc. in 2021, although that lawsuit was later dropped. That same year, the U.S. Department of Commerce sanctioned NSO Group after determining that the company’s spyware was a malicious threat to officials, journalists and academics.

NSO had claimed it had sovereign immunity from the lawsuit, stating that it worked closely with foreign government intelligence agencies. It may still appeal today’s verdict, with spokesperson Gil Lainer saying such software aims to prevent “serious crime and terrorism and is deployed responsibly by authorized government agencies.” She added that the company “will carefully examine the verdict’s details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal.”

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