California judge dismisses El Faro journalists' Pegasus lawsuit against NSO Group

A California federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by Salvadoran El Faro journalists whose devices were infected with Pegasus spyware, ruling the state lacked jurisdiction. The Knight Institute plans to appeal.

• Pegasus was deployed against El Faro journalists at least 226 times between June 2020 and November 2021
• The suit against NSO Group, filed in November 2022, was the first of its kind in a U.S. court
• The judge called the case "entirely foreign" with no standing in California
• The Knight Institute said it plans to appeal the decision