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US Court Bars NSO Group from Installing Spyware on WhatsApp

The US judge who cut the amount NSO Group should pay Meta for a scheme to spy on WhatsApp users also granted an injunction to stop the Israel-based spyware maker's tactics targeting users of the messaging service. JACK GUEZ / AFP
The US judge who cut the amount NSO Group should pay Meta for a scheme to spy on WhatsApp users also granted an injunction to stop the Israel-based spyware maker's tactics targeting users of the messaging service. JACK GUEZ / AFP
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US Court Bars NSO Group from Installing Spyware on WhatsApp

The US judge who cut the amount NSO Group should pay Meta for a scheme to spy on WhatsApp users also granted an injunction to stop the Israel-based spyware maker's tactics targeting users of the messaging service. JACK GUEZ / AFP
The US judge who cut the amount NSO Group should pay Meta for a scheme to spy on WhatsApp users also granted an injunction to stop the Israel-based spyware maker's tactics targeting users of the messaging service. JACK GUEZ / AFP

A US judge on Friday granted an injunction barring Israeli spyware maker NSO Group from targeting WhatsApp users but slashed a $168 million damages award at trial to just $4 million.

District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that NSO Group's behavior fell short of a "particularly egregious" standard needed to support the jury's calculations on a financial penalty.

But in the ruling, seen by AFP, she said the court "concluded that defendants' conduct causes irreparable harm, and there being no dispute that the conduct is ongoing" the judge granted WhatsApp owner Meta an injunction to stop NSO Group's snooping tactics at the messaging service.

"Today's ruling bans spyware maker NSO from ever targeting WhatsApp and our global users again," WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart said in a statement.

"We applaud this decision that comes after six years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for targeting members of civil society."

Evidence at trial showed that NSO Group reverse-engineered WhatsApp code to stealthily install spyware targeting users, according to the ruling.

The spyware was repeatedly redesigned to escape detection and bypass security fixes at WhatsApp, the court concluded.

The lawsuit, filed in late 2019, accused NSO Group of cyberespionage targeting journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and others using the encrypted messaging service.

Hamilton ruled however that the $168 million damages verdict awarded to Meta earlier this year was excessive.

"There have simply not yet been enough cases involving unlawful electronic surveillance in the smartphone era for the court to be able to conclude that defendants' conduct was 'particularly egregious'," Hamilton wrote in the ruling which was seen by AFP.

"As time goes on, more of a shared societal consensus may emerge about the acceptability of defendants' conduct."

'Malicious code'

Founded in 2010 by Israelis Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, NSO Group is based in the seaside high-tech hub of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

Media website TechCrunch reported Friday that a US investment group has acquired controlling interest in NSO Group.

The Israeli firm produces Pegasus, a highly invasive tool that can reportedly switch on a target's cell phone camera and microphone and access data on it, effectively turning the phone into a pocket spy.

The suit filed in a California federal court contended that NSO tried to infect approximately 1,400 "target devices" with malicious software to steal valuable information.

Infecting smartphones or other gadgets being used for WhatsApp messages meant the content of messages encrypted during transmission could be accessed after they were unscrambled.

The complaint said the attackers "developed a program to enable them to emulate legitimate WhatsApp network traffic in order to transmit malicious code" to take over the devices.

The software has been pinpointed by independent experts as being used by nation states, some of them with poor human rights records.

NSO Group has maintained it only licenses its software to governments for fighting crime and terrorism.

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Technology

Apple Rolls Out Creator Studio to Boost Services Push, Adds AI Features

A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Apple Rolls Out Creator Studio to Boost Services Push, Adds AI Features

A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)

Apple on Tuesday unveiled Apple Creator Studio, a new subscription bundle of professional creative software priced at $12.99 a month or $129 a year, as the iPhone maker steps up its push into paid services for creators, students and professionals.

The company has used its services business, which includes its Apple ‌Music and ‌iCloud services, to drive ‌growth ⁠in recent ‌years, helping counter slower hardware growth and generate recurring revenue.

Apple Creator Studio bundles some of the company's best-known creative tools into a single subscription, including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro ⁠and Pixelmator Pro across Mac and iPad.

The ‌package also adds premium ‍content and ‍new AI-powered features to Apple's productivity apps ‍Keynote, Pages and Numbers, while digital whiteboarding app Freeform will gain enhanced features later.

Final Cut Pro will offer new tools such as transcript-based search, visual search and beat detection to ⁠speed up video editing, while Logic Pro introduces AI-powered features like Synth Player and Chord ID to assist with music creation.

The company's Photoshop-alternative Pixelmator Pro will be available on iPad for the first time and will offer Apple Pencil support.

The subscription launches January 28 on ‌the App Store, Apple said.

Technology

Social Media Harms Teens, Watchdog Warns, as France Weighs Ban

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Social Media Harms Teens, Watchdog Warns, as France Weighs Ban

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Social media harms the mental health of adolescents, particularly girls, France's health watchdog said Tuesday as the country debates banning children under 15 from accessing the immensely popular platforms.

The results of an expert scientific review on the subject were announced after Australia became the first country to prohibit big platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for under 16s last month, while other nations consider following its lead.

Using social media is not the sole cause of the declining mental health of teenagers, but its negative effects are "numerous" and well documented, the French public health watchdog ANSES wrote in its opinion, the result of five years of work by a committee of experts.

France is currently debating two bills, one backed by President Emmanuel Macron, that would ban social media for under 15s.

The ANSES opinion recommended "acting at the source" to ensure that children can only access social networks "designed and configured to protect their health".

This means that the platforms would have to change their personalized algorithms, persuasive techniques and default settings, according to the agency.

"This study provides scientific arguments for the debate about social networks in recent years: it is based on 1,000 studies," the expert panel's head Olivia Roth-Delgado told a press conference.

Social media can create an "unprecedented echo chamber" that reinforces stereotypes, promotes risky behavior and promotes cyberbullying, the ANSES opinion said.

The content also portrays an unrealistic idea of beauty via digitally altered images that can lead to low self-esteem in girls, which creates fertile ground for depression or eating disorders, it added.

Girls -- who use social media more than boys -- are subjected to more of the "social pressure linked to gender stereotypes," the opinion said.

This means girls are more affected by the dangers of social media -- as are people with pre-existing mental health conditions, it added.

On Monday, tech giant Meta urged Australia to rethink its teen social media ban, while reporting that it has blocked more than 544,000 Instagram, Facebook and Threads accounts under the new law.

Meta said parents and experts were worried about the ban isolating young people from online communities, and driving some to less regulated apps and darker corners of the internet.

Technology

New Process for Stable, Long-Lasting Batteries

The image shows a test cell used to fabricate and test the all-solid-state battery developed at PSI. (Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Mahir Dzambegovic) 
The image shows a test cell used to fabricate and test the all-solid-state battery developed at PSI. (Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Mahir Dzambegovic) 
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New Process for Stable, Long-Lasting Batteries

The image shows a test cell used to fabricate and test the all-solid-state battery developed at PSI. (Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Mahir Dzambegovic) 
The image shows a test cell used to fabricate and test the all-solid-state battery developed at PSI. (Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Mahir Dzambegovic) 

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have achieved a breakthrough on the path to practical application of lithium metal all-solid-state batteries.

The team expects the next generation of batteries to store more energy, are safer to operate, and charge faster than conventional lithium-ion batteries.

The team has reported these results in the journal Advanced Science.

All-solid-state batteries are considered a promising solution for electromobility, mobile electronics, and stationary energy storage – in part because they do not require flammable liquid electrolytes and therefore are inherently safer than conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Two key problems, however, stand in the way of market readiness: On the one hand, the formation of lithium dendrites at the anode remains a critical point.

On the other hand, an electrochemical instability – at the interface between the lithium metal anode and the solid electrolyte – can impair the battery’s long-term performance and reliability.

To overcome these two obstacles, the team led by Mario El Kazzi, head of the Battery Materials and Diagnostics group at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, developed a new production process:

“We combined two approaches that, together, both densify the electrolyte and stabilize the interface with the lithium,” the scientist explained.

Central to the PSI study is the argyrodite type LPSCl, a sulphide-based solid electrolyte made of lithium, phosphorus, and sulphur. The mineral exhibits high lithium-ion conductivity, enabling rapid ion transport within the battery – a crucial prerequisite for high performance and efficient charging processes.

To densify argyrodite into a homogeneous electrolyte, El Kazzi and his team did incorporate the temperature factor, but in a more careful way: Instead of the classic sintering process, they chose a gentler approach in which the mineral was compressed under moderate pressure and at a moderate temperature of only about 80 degrees Celsius.

The result is a compact, dense microstructure resistant to the penetration of lithium dendrites. Already, in this form, the solid electrolyte is ideally suited for rapid lithium-ion transport.

To ensure reliable operation even at high current densities, such as those encountered during rapid charging and discharging, the all-solid-state cell required further modification.

For this purpose, a coating of lithium fluoride (LiF), only 65 nanometres thick, was evaporated under vacuum and applied uniformly to the lithium surface – serving as a ultra-thin passivation layer at the interface between the anode and the solid electrolyte.

In laboratory tests with button cells, the battery demonstrated extraordinary performance under demanding conditions.

“Its cycle stability at high voltage was remarkable,” said doctoral candidate Jinsong Zhang, lead author of the study.

After 1,500 charge and discharge cycles, the cell still retained approximately 75% of its original capacity.

This means that three-quarters of the lithium ions were still migrating from the cathode to the anode. “An outstanding result. These values are among the best reported to date.”

Zhang therefore sees a good chance that all-solid-state batteries could soon surpass conventional lithium-ion batteries with liquid electrolyte in terms of energy density and durability.

Thus El Kazzi and his team have demonstrated for the first time that the combination of solid electrolyte mild sintering and a thin passivation layer on lithium anode effectively suppresses both dendrite formation and interfacial instability.

This combined solution marks an important advance for all-solid-state battery research – not least because it offers ecological and economic advantages: Due to the low temperatures, the process saves energy and therefore costs.

“Our approach is a practical solution for the industrial production of argyrodite-based all-solid-state batteries,” said El Kazzi. “A few more adjustments – and we could get started.”