WhatsApp disrupts NSO phishing campaign, seeks contempt ruling

WhatsApp is asking a federal judge to hold NSO Group in contempt after saying the spyware maker kept trying to reach WhatsApp users despite a permanent injunction meant to stop those attacks. The company said it disrupted fresh spear-phishing attempts linked to NSO and removed test accounts and groups the firm had created on its platform.

The latest fight centers on a pattern WhatsApp says mirrors earlier one-click phishing campaigns that lured people to external websites with malicious links. Those tactics matter because they can be used to pull targets out of the protected messaging environment and into a path that compromises their devices. WhatsApp said the attempted campaign showed why spyware remains a live threat for journalists, human rights workers, diplomats and other people who rely on encrypted communications for safety.

NSO’s legal exposure has been building since a U.S. court ordered the company in 2025 to stop targeting WhatsApp and its users. Meta said the jury award against NSO was later cut to $4 million from an initial $167 million, but the injunction remained the sharper blow to the company’s business. WhatsApp said that during the 2019 attack at the center of the case, NSO targeted more than 1,000 users, including human rights activists, journalists, diplomats and others in civil society.

The company says the stakes are broader than one messaging app. NSO is blacklisted by the U.S. government as acting contrary to national security or foreign policy interests, and WhatsApp says spyware of this kind can pull information from apps on a phone and can remotely activate the microphone and camera. That combination leaves high-risk users exposed even after a courtroom win, because the technical threat can outlast the legal one.

WhatsApp said it is also sharing threat indicators so people can look for signs they were targeted across platforms, not just inside WhatsApp. In May 2026, 12 civil rights organizations filed amicus briefs backing the injunction as NSO appealed, underscoring how civil society sees the case as a test of whether court orders can meaningfully restrain spyware firms. WhatsApp’s contempt bid turns that question into a direct challenge: if a company under injunction can still probe for openings, the deterrent effect of legal action is far weaker than victims were promised.