A court told NSO Group to stop. WhatsApp says it did not listen.
The Meta-owned app says it caught a new wave of attacks tied to NSO. Now it wants a judge to step in.
WhatsApp says it found and killed a new batch of fake-link scams tied to NSO. Its own users flagged the odd activity first.
These scams are called spear phishing. They go after one person at a time with fake links built to look real.
The goal was simple. One bad tap could pull a user off WhatsApp and onto an outside site.
That outside site is where the real trap waits. From there, a phone can get hit with NSO's Pegasus spyware.
That tool can read texts, hear calls, and track where you go. It is some of the most feared spyware around.
WhatsApp says the trick looked a lot like an older NSO scam. That one showed up in Jordan back in 2024.
The app also found fake test accounts the group had set up. It took them down fast.
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This fight started in 2019. NSO ran a mass hack that hit more than 1,400 WhatsApp users.
WhatsApp warned the victims and then sued. The case dragged on for years.
A jury later told NSO to pay $167 million. A judge then cut that to about $4 million.
But the bigger win was the court order that came with it. The order barred NSO from going after WhatsApp or its users again.
It works a lot like a no-contact rule. WhatsApp says NSO broke it and walked right back in.
So it asked the court to hold NSO in contempt. That is a charge for ignoring a judge's order.
Big tech has built a playbook against spyware. Firms expose the hacks and warn the people hit.
They take the makers to court when they can. Some also add opt-in tools that make phones harder to crack.
Meta has leaned on all of these over the years. This contempt filing is its latest swing.
NSO is not a small player. Its spyware has been tied to dozens of hacks on reporters, activists, and rivals.
That record is why the US put NSO on a trade blocklist. The block cut it off from US tech and buyers.
The US has gone after other spyware firms too. It hit a maker called Intellexa with sanctions of its own.
A group of US backers bought NSO last year. They hoped to clean up its name and get the ban lifted.
NSO is still on the US blocklist. It did not reply to a request for comment.
A firm asking Washington for a second chance just got caught breaking the rules again.
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