WhatsApp, Facebook Malware Suit to Continue After 9th Circuit Denies Foreign Sovereign Immunity Claims

A federal appellate panel sided with the WhatsApp messaging app and its parent company Facebook on Monday after denying a private, Israeli corporation’s claims of foreign sovereign immunity to dismiss a suit alleging it sent malware through WhatsApp’s server to mobile devices.

WhatsApp Inc. and Facebook Inc. filed a suit against the NSO Group Technologies Ltd. and its parent company, Q Cyber Technologies Ltd., in October 2019. NSO that designs and licenses surveillance technology to governments and government agencies for national security and law enforcement purposes.