Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A U.S. appels court ruled that Facebook can sue Israel’s NSO Group for allegedly exploiting a vulnerability in WhatsApp to install malware. This allowed the surveillance of over 1,400 individuals, journalists and human rights activists.

The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Monday in a unanimous decision. Circuit Court of Appeals San Francisco disapproved of privately-owned NSO’s claims that it is immune from suit because it has acted as a foreign agent.

NSO’s lawyers and NSO did not immediately reply to inquiries for comment.

Facebook now called Meta Platforms Inc sued NSO to obtain an injunction against it. In October 2019, NSO was accused of accessing WhatsApp servers with no permission six months before the installation of its Pegasus malware.

NSO claims that Pegasus assists law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies to fight crime and protect national safety.

The trial judge refused to grant it conduct-based immunity in July 2020. This doctrine protects foreign officials from being sued by those who act in official capacities.

Circuit Judge Danielle Forrest affirmed that ruling and stated it was an easy case because NSOs simpla licensing Pegasus or offering technical support didn’t shield them from liability under federal laws, which preceded common law.

Forrest said that NSO is not an “agency of a foreign nation” regardless of what its government clients do with technology and services. NSO does not have the right to foreign sovereign immunity.

U.S. district judge Phyllis Hamilton of Oakland, California will be handling the case.

Joshua Breckman from WhatsApp, the WhatsApp spokesperson, stated in an email that the decision is “a significant step towards holding NSO accountable to its attacks upon journalists, human rights activists and government officials.”

Facebook got support Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:), Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc’s Google and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:) Corp, which in a court filing called surveillance technology such as Pegasus “powerful, and dangerous https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-nso-cyber/microsoft-google-cisco-dell-join-legal-battle-against-hacking-company-nso-idUSKBN28V2WX.”

On Nov. 3, the U.S. government blacklisted https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-blacklists-four-companies-israel-russia-singapore-citing-spyware-2021-11-03 NSO and Israel’s Candiru for allegedly providing spyware to governments that used it to “maliciously target” journalists, activists and others.

WhatsApp Inc et al v NSO Grup Technologies Ltd et al 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals No. 20-16408.