The Record reported that a federal judge in Northern California ruled against WhatsApp on Friday. Judge Phyllis Hamilton said WhatsApp did not prove that spyware maker NSO Group broke a 2025 court order. The order bars NSO from using WhatsApp's systems to attack users. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, had asked in June for NSO to be held in contempt. Its evidence came from one Meta threat investigator, Andrew Blaich. He said he found 23 new accounts with traits Meta links to NSO testing.
Hamilton found the evidence short of clear and convincing proof, The Record said. WhatsApp gave few details on how Blaich found the accounts. It said sharing its methods could hurt future fights against spyware makers. In 2025, Hamilton fined NSO $4.4 million for misusing WhatsApp's systems. NSO's Pegasus spyware, which can infect a phone without a click, was used on 1,400 users in 2019. WhatsApp and NSO did not immediately respond to comment requests. Whether WhatsApp will try again is not yet known.
For teams that run platforms, the case shows that proving abuse in court can mean revealing how it was found. Apple dropped its own NSO suit in September 2024, saying it risked exposing vital security information.