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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

WhatsApp has prevailed against Israeli spyware maker NSO Group in a US lawsuit over NSO’s abuse of the messaging app to enable the infiltration of the phones of journalists, activists and dissidents with its Pegasus hacking tool. 

A judge in the Northern District of California ruled on Friday that NSO breached hacking laws and the terms of its service agreement with WhatsApp by using the messaging platform to inject more than 1,000 devices with its Pegasus spyware. 

The ruling in the civil case did not address the rights of the individuals whose phones had been hacked, but it hands a victory to technology groups seeking to prevent their platforms from being abused by groups targeting their users.

It is also a win for Apple, Amazon and other tech giants that supported WhatsApp’s case. 

“The court finds no merit in the arguments raised” by NSO Group, judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled. The summary judgment means an upcoming trial will cover only the question of damages, rather than whether NSO can be held liable for its actions.

“After five years of litigation, we’re grateful for today’s decision,” WhatsApp said. “NSO can no longer avoid accountability for their unlawful attacks on WhatsApp, journalists, human rights activists and civil society.” 

NSO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Pegasus can read encrypted messages stored on a phone, turn on its camera and microphone remotely and track its location. Its use has been tied to human rights abuses and the US Department of Commerce has blacklisted the Israeli company. 

The legal case was launched after a 2019 Financial Times report that coincided with WhatsApp’s discovery that its services had been hacked by NSO and Pegasus. 

The ruling said NSO Group did not dispute that it “must have reverse-engineered and/or decompiled the WhatsApp software” in order to hack phones, but had raised the possibility that it did so before agreeing to WhatsApp’s terms of service. 

However, the judge found, “common sense dictates that [NSO] must have first gained access” to the WhatsApp software and NSO had offered “no plausible explanation” for how it could have done so without agreeing to the terms of service. It ruled in favour of WhatsApp’s claim that NSO had violated federal and state hacking laws. 

The judge also found that NSO had “repeatedly failed to produce relevant discovery”, including in relation to the Pegasus source code.

“This sets a precedent that will be cited for years to come,” said John Scott-Railton, a researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab who has investigated the use of Pegasus. 

“This is the most-watched case about mercenary spyware and everyone is going to take note. I predict this will have a chilling effect on other shady spyware companies’ efforts to enter the US market, and investors’ interest in backing their hacking,” he said.

Texas Department of Safety Sgt. Bryan Washko says a man drove into a Texas mall after a 19-mile police pursuit, striking four people before he was fatally shot by responding law enforcement officers.

Statement to The New York Times from Bryan Freedman, attorney for Justin Baldoni,
Wayfarer Studios and all its representatives:
“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and
categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as
yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own
remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were
observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own
views and opinions.
These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to
publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision to
proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside
their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple
demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to
not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during
release, if her demands were not met.
It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision
PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false
stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another
reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence
internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.
The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only
responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored
social activity.
What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there
were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and
private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations
professionals.”