The US Supreme Court has shot down the NSO Group’s attempt to gain immunity from lawsuits over its Pegasus spyware.

NSO Group maintained that it only sold the Pegasus software to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, but was revealed to have sold it to authoritarian regimes as well. As a result, Pegasus spyware was used to hack phones and spy on journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats.

NSO Group has since faced a plethora of lawsuits and has tried to avoid them by arguing it should receive immunity since it was working on behalf of foreign governments.

According to Reuters, the Supreme Court has shot down that argument, upholding a decision of a lower court that NSO Group does not qualify for immunity. The Biden administration had urged the court to arrive at this decision, pointing out that the State Department had never given a private company sovereign immunity.

As a result of the decision, WhatsApp’s case against NSO Group is free to proceed. WIth the precedent established, other cases will likely be free to proceed as well.

WhatsApp parent Meta welcomed the decision.

“NSO’s spyware has enabled cyberattacks targeting human rights activists, journalists and government officials,” Meta said. “We firmly believe that their operations violate U.S. law and they must be held to account for their unlawful operations.”