A federal judge in Northern California has denied WhatsApp's request to hold spyware maker NSO Group in contempt for allegedly continuing to use WhatsApp's infrastructure in attacks. Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that WhatsApp failed to provide enough evidence that NSO violated an injunction issued in 2025, which barred the company from abusing the messaging platform and included a $4.4 million fine.
WhatsApp filed the appeal in June, claiming NSO carried out new spearphishing attacks. The company's evidence rested on a declaration from Andrew Blaich, a security engineer on Meta's threat intelligence team, who said he found 23 accounts with signatures previously associated with NSO. WhatsApp argued that revealing how Blaich made those findings would compromise its ability to fight spyware in the future, but the judge said that "calculated risk" meant the evidence did not meet the legal bar.
The decision drew criticism from digital rights advocates. Natalia Krapiva of Access Now said requiring such disclosures could give NSO, foreign intelligence services, and criminals insight into how sophisticated spyware is detected, potentially leading to "complete impunity for the spyware industry." The ruling follows Apple's 2024 decision to drop its own suit against NSO over similar concerns about exposing vital security information. Neither WhatsApp nor NSO responded to requests for comment.