US Supreme Court Await Joe Biden Administration's Decision To Continue Whatsapp Case And NSO Groups

Whatsapp feels NSO Group has hacked its servers. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - The US Supreme Court on Monday, June 6 asked the administration of US President, Joe Biden, to consider whether a judge should hear a case about WhatsApp from Meta Platforms Inc could file a lawsuit accusing Israel's NSO Group of exploiting a bug in the messaging app to install spy software. eye.

The judges are considering NSO's appeal against a lower court's decision that would allow Whatsapp's lawsuit to go forward. NSO argued that they were immune from prosecution for acting as agents of an unknown foreign government when installing the "Pegasus" spyware.

WhatsApp said the software was used to monitor 1,400 people, including journalists, human rights activists and dissidents.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the US Department of Justice to offer a brief offer of its views on legal matters.

Meta Platforms is the parent of WhatsApp and Facebook and was known as Facebook Inc when the lawsuit was filed. WhatsApp in October 2019 sued NSO seeking injunction and redress, and accused it of accessing WhatsApp servers without permission six months in advance to install the Pegasus software on the targeted person's mobile device.

Meanwhile NSO, as reported by Reuters, argues that Pegasus helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies fight crime and protect national security.

NSO appealed the court judge's refusal in July 2020 to grant it "behavioral-based immunity," a common law doctrine that protects foreign officials acting in their official capacity.

Upholding the ruling last November, the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals called it an "easy case" because NSO's mere licensing of Pegasus and offering technical support did not protect it from liability under a federal law called the Pegasus Act. Foreign Sovereign Immunities, which take precedence over common law.