Israeli cyber firm NSO employees sue Facebook for blocking private accounts

“Blocking our private accounts is a hurtful and unjust move by Facebook,” the statement said. “The idea that personal data was searched for and used is very disturbing to us.”

By REUTERS

NOVEMBER 26, 2019 20:43

Woman holds a tablet displaying WhatsApp's logo in front of the screen with the Facebook logo.

(photo credit: REUTERS/DAVID W CERNY)

A group of employees from Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group filed a lawsuit against Facebook Inc on Tuesday, saying the social media giant had unfairly blocked their private accounts when it sued NSO last month.

Messaging service WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, had accused NSO in its own legal action of helping government spies to break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users across four continents in a hacking spree whose targets included diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and senior government officials.

The NSO employees said their Facebook and Instagram accounts and also those of former workers and family members had been blocked. They petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court to order Facebook to unblock the accounts, which they claim was done abruptly and without notice.

"In October we filed a legal complaint which attributed a sophisticated cyber attack to the NSO Group and its employees that was directed at WhatsApp and its users in violation of our terms of service and U.S. law. Such actions warranted disabling relevant accounts and continue to be necessary for security reasons, including preventing additional attacks," a Facebook Spokesperson commented.

In their statement, the NSO employees said Facebook had imposed a “collective punishment” by choosing to block their private accounts due to the legal process Facebook is conducting against NSO. They also said their lawsuit came only after they made repeated requests to Facebook that went unanswered.

“Blocking our private accounts is a hurtful and unjust move by Facebook,” the statement said. “The idea that personal data was searched for and used is very disturbing to us.”

The employees said they would continue to “help governments around the world prevent crime and terrorism through the technology we are developing”.

WhatsApp accused NSO of facilitating government hacking sprees in 20 countries. Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were the only countries identified.

NSO, founded in 2009, denies the allegations.

Speaking at a technology conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, its president, Shiri Dolev, defended her company, saying NSO technologies made the world safer. Dolev also said she wished NSO could talk openly about the role it plays in helping law enforcement agencies catch terrorists.

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“Terrorists and criminals use the social platforms and apps we all use every day...,” she said.

Dolev added that NSO does not operate the technology nor hack phones. “We develop the technology which we sell exclusively to government intelligence agencies,” she said.