Appeals court revives Salvadoran journalists’ lawsuit against NSO Group

A U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that a district court erred when it dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of Salvadoran investigative journalists against a spyware manufacturer whose product was allegedly used against them.

In March 2024, a California federal judge threw out a 2022 lawsuit filed by Carlos Dada and other journalists at El Faro, saying their case was “entirely foreign” and they therefore had no standing to sue in the U.S. 

El Faro was investigating the Salvadoran government when Israel-based NSO Group’s powerful Pegasus spyware was installed on phones belonging to Dada and 21 other El Faro staffers, according to digital forensic researchers who pinpointed the timing of the attacks and diagnosed the infections.

Between June 2020 and November 2021 Pegasus was deployed on devices belonging to El Faro journalists at least 226 times, according to the Knight First Amendment Institute, which is representing Dada.

Dada filed an appeal which led to Tuesday’s decision vacating the district court’s earlier ruling. 

The appellate court on Tuesday sent the case back to the lower court for further consideration, saying it had “abused its discretion” and improperly applied the law when deciding Dada and his colleagues had no right to sue in U.S. courts.

The district court failed to properly account for allegations that NSO Group executed the alleged Pegasus attacks by creating Apple ID accounts and engaging with Apple’s California-based servers, according to Tuesday’s opinion.

In July, Google, Microsoft and other U.S. tech companies filed a legal brief supporting Dada’s appeal, saying that even if NSO’s spyware was not being used to target U.S. citizens, the “proliferation of these tools would still inflict substantial harm on important U.S. interests.” 

Dada and the other plaintiffs have asked the court to force NSO to reveal the name of their government client responsible for commissioning the hacks. They also have argued that NSO Group should be forced to delete all information obtained through the hacks.

A spokesperson for the NSO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Knight First Amendment Institute said in a press release that it is “essential that spyware manufacturers be held accountable in U.S. courts when their spyware relies on the subversion of U.S. technology and is used to undermine press freedom.”