A US judge bars NSO Group from targeting WhatsApp users and cuts the ~$168M damages verdict awarded to Meta by a jury in May to $4M, ruling it was excessive
Meta previously won $168 million in damages over claims spyware compromised WhatsApp users, but a judge reduced the damages down to $4 million.
The ruling separates two outcomes that had been aligned in Meta's favor: the jury's roughly $168 million damages award has been sharply reduced, while the restriction on targeting WhatsApp users remains in place.
First-order effects
NSO is immediately barred from targeting WhatsApp and its users, giving Meta a court-backed prohibition tied to the conduct at issue.
Meta's monetary recovery falls to $4 million from the jury's far larger award, limiting the financial value of the verdict even as the injunction stands.
Second-order effects
The decision makes the injunction, rather than the damages award, the central practical remedy for Meta's WhatsApp security claims.
For commercial spyware vendors, the case signals that unauthorized use against a major platform can bring durable operating restrictions, though the reduced award weakens the scale of monetary deterrence in this instance.
Third-order effects
If courts continue to pair lower damages with broad behavioral restraints, platform-security litigation may increasingly focus on enforceable access bans rather than large jury awards.
The lasting force of this approach will depend on enforcement: an injunction changes industry conduct only if courts can detect and penalize violations.
The trend: The case is part of a broader shift toward using civil litigation to set boundaries on commercial surveillance tools' access to major communications platforms.
Today's ruling bans spyware maker NSO from ever targeting WhatsApp and our global users again. We applaud this decision that comes after six years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for targeting members of civil society. It sets an important precedent that there are serious
This ruling is a BIG DEAL & may essentially kill Pegasus spyware *as we know it.* To comply, NSO would have to ensure that their spyware cannot access WhatsApp messages or break WhatsApp's encryption. This means that NSO can no longer offer “unlimited” access to victims' 📱s
NOW: US court permanently bans Pegasus spyware maker from hacking WhatsApp. NSO Group can't help their customers hack @WhatsApp, etc ether. Must delete exploits... Bad news for NSO. Huge competitive disadvantage for the notorious company. Big additional win for WhatsApp 1 [image]
What if that same American company lets tens of thousands of developers from adversarial nations harvest its users' personal data then spends billions to bury the details for many years? Asking for a friend. Maybe don't spike the football until your boss comes clean? Thanks.
3/ NSO also emerges from the @WhatsApp v NSO case with just an absolute TON of their business splashed all over the court records.. E.g. check out the filings from Sept 15th 2025: https://www.courtlistener.com/ ...
2/ Although the massive punitive damages jury award against NSO Group ($167m) got reduced by the court, as is expected in cases where it is so large (to 9x compensatory damages)... This is likely cold comfort to NSO since I think the injunction is going to have a huge impact on […
WhatsApp didn't have to spend six years in a legal fight against NSO Group. But they did. They got a jury verdict... and didn't stop Now NSO is banned from targeting WhatsApp users. And your WhatsApp messages are safer because of it. Well done. https://x.com/...
@lorenzofb Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai on bluesky
The judge reduced the damages NSO has to pay to WhatsApp from $167 million down to $4 million. [embedded post]