NSO's Pegasus is used to "commit horrible human rights abuses" globally and "it must be stopped", WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart said on Twitter, responding to the investigation carried out by a global media consortium that revealed that the spyware is being used to spy on activists and journalists. India is found to be among more than 50 countries where the spyware is believed to be used as a cyber-surveillance weapon. In 2019, WhatsApp had sued Israel's NSO Group for exploiting a vulnerability in its app to allow its Pegasus malware to gain access to user devices.