A California federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit brought by Salvadoran journalists against spyware maker NSO Group over Pegasus infections of their devices, ruling the plaintiffs failed to establish jurisdiction in California. The plaintiffs — staff of independent Salvadoran news outlet El Faro, led by founder Carlos Dada — were targeted with Pegasus at least 226 times between June 2020 and November 2021 according to the Knight First Amendment Institute, which filed the case on their behalf in November 2022; the attacks intensified in the days before major investigations were to be published. The Dada case was the first filed against NSO Group in a US court. Another judge had already tossed it in March 2024, calling it "entirely foreign"; this week's order again rejected the argument that compromised NSO infrastructure located in California was enough to confer jurisdiction. The plaintiffs had sought an order requiring NSO to delete the collected information and name the government client behind the snooping. The Knight Institute says it plans to appeal, leaving open the possibility the case could be revived.

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