Pegasus Project and the NSO Group
Alleged: Reported or claimed; not established in the public record.
On 19 July 2021 Amnesty International and media partners reported a leak of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets linked to NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. NSO “firmly denies” the allegations. In WhatsApp v NSO, a US jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages, later cut by the judge, with a permanent injunction entered in 2025.
Documented
The court judgment is public: a jury awarded $444,719 compensatory and $167,254,000 punitive damages; the punitive award was remitted to $4,002,471 for a final judgment of $4,447,190.
Claimed, disputed or not established
That the leaked list identifies actual targets or surveillance by named governments is an allegation by Amnesty and partners, denied by NSO. NSO is a private company; no Israeli agency is alleged in the sources opened.
Sources (opened in a new tab)
- Amnesty International: The Pegasus Project (19 Jul 2021) ↗https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2021/07/the-pegasus-project/
- US District Court (N.D. Cal.): WhatsApp v NSO order (PDF) ↗https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.350613/gov.uscourts.cand.350613.810.0.pdf
Connected
- Section: Israel
- Countries: Israel
- Case board · Timeline (2021) · Document vault