Meta launches legal battle against NSO as US warns of Israeli spyware threat

Meta is set to take legal action against Israeli spyware firm NSO Group by filing a federal court contempt order.

According to the US-based tech giant, the legal battle stems from the spyware firm’s actions of violating a permanent injunction issued last year that barred it from targeting WhatsApp and its users.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram said WhatsApp recently identified and neutralized new “spear phishing attempts” linked to the NSO firm.

According to Meta mentioned in blogpost, phishing threats were described as “1-click” attacks, aiming to lure users into clicking malicious links that could compromise their devices and accounts.

The company timely foiled the alleged breach by dismantling test accounts and groups created by NSO on its platform.

In 2025, the US court issued an order against NSO, instructing it to stop targeting Meta’s WhatsApp and held the firm liable for unauthorized access. While NSO was found liable, the punitive damages were significantly reduced in a previous ruling, dropping from an initial $167 million to $4 million.

Besides Meta, 12 prominent civil rights organisations, consisting of privacy advocates, security researchers and digital experts also opened a front against NSO as the firm filed an appeal against the permanent injunction.

The US has largely seen NSO as a significant threat to its national security and foreign policy and been blacklisted due to involvement in illegal activities.

The announcement comes as last week the Pentagon identified Israel as a “critical level” counterintelligence threat amid heightened espionage fears over US officials.

The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) internal assessment marked Israel as a critical level threat based on “high-end human intelligence gathering and technical surveillance.”