Meta moves to hold Israeli spyware maker NSO Group in contempt
Meta says NSO Group ran fresh phishing attacks and tested its spyware on WhatsApp accounts, defying a court order barring it from targeting WhatsApp users — and is asking US courts to hold the firm in contempt, backed by a dozen digital-rights groups. NSO, blacklisted by Washington, is appealing the underlying injunction and has warned it could be put out of business.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
Meta says it disrupted new NSO-linked 'one-click' phishing attempts and took down test accounts on WhatsApp, and is pressing US courts to hold the firm in contempt for violating a standing injunction — joined by 12 civil-rights and digital-rights organisations, and pointing to NSO's US blacklisting over its Pegasus tool.
NSO did not comment on Meta's latest filing, but the company is appealing the permanent injunction — which it has warned could put it out of business — as it fights to keep operating the government-sold surveillance tools at the centre of the case. An earlier ruling had already cut the damages it owed Meta from $167m to $4m.
