Supreme Court Approves the WhatsApp Lawsuit to Move Forward Over Spyware

 The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Meta to pursue a lawsuit alleging that an Israeli company unlawfully accessed WhatsApp servers when installing spyware on users’ devices.

The justices turned away NSO Group Technologies’ appeal arguing that it was immune from the lawsuit because it was acting on behalf of unidentified foreign governments. Meta owns the WhatsApp messaging platform as well as the social media sites Facebook and Instagram. The case will now move forward in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2019, alleges that NSO violated various laws, including the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, when it installed the “Pegasus” spyware. Meta claims that NSO unlawfully accessed WhatsApp servers earlier in 2019, enabling it to conduct surveillance of 1,400 people, including journalists and human rights activists.

Read the source article at nbcnews.com