Rights groups urge US appeals court to uphold spyware ban against NSO Group

Access Now and ten other civil society organisations have filed an amicus brief before the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supporting a court order that permanently bars NSO Group from targeting WhatsApp users with Pegasus spyware.

The filing is part of a long-running lawsuit originally brought in 2019 by WhatsApp and its parent company, now known as Meta Platforms.

The case concerns allegations that NSO used WhatsApp infrastructure to deploy Pegasus spyware against more than 1,400 individuals across 20 countries, including journalists, activists, dissidents, and human rights defenders.

After several years of litigation, a California district court ruled in favour of WhatsApp and issued a permanent injunction preventing NSO from using WhatsApp services to target users or devices.

The new filing asks the appeals court to keep that injunction in place.

The organisations argue that the case is not only about WhatsApp’s commercial interests but also about the security of encrypted communications more broadly. According to the brief, spyware tools such as Pegasus undermine encryption protections relied on by billions of users globally.

The groups also reject arguments that NSO’s activities support legitimate national security interests. Instead, they argue that commercial spyware markets have enabled transnational repression, unlawful surveillance, and attacks on civil society actors.

The case has become one of the most significant legal disputes involving commercial spyware companies. A central question is whether private surveillance vendors can be held legally responsible when exploiting mainstream communication platforms to deliver intrusive spyware against users worldwide.