Washington, Jan 9 – The Supreme Court of the United States allowed this Monday the lawsuit filed by Meta -owner of WhatsApp- against the Israeli company NSO Group Technologies, which allegedly illegally accessed the servers of the messaging service when installed the Pegasus software.
The judges dismissed the appeal of the Israeli company, which argued that the lawsuit had no effect because it was acting on behalf of unidentified government agencies, US media reported.
After the decision of the highest US judicial instance, the case may continue its course in a lower federal court in Northern California.
Meta’s lawsuit, initiated in October 2019, maintains that the Israeli company allegedly violated various laws such as the federal law against computer fraud and abuse when it installed the Pegasus “software”, which allowed it to access WhatsApp servers to spy on. 1,400 people, including journalists and activists.
The Israeli company defended that it was acting on behalf of foreign governments, which it did not identify, and that Pegasus is a system used by security and intelligence forces and bodies.
The government of President Joe Biden ruled on the case in June and said in a letter that the authorities did not have to take NSO Group’s appeal into account, since the company did not meet the requirement of a state entity that can request immunity, according to NBC News.