Representatives Tom Malinowski, Katie Porter, Joaquin Castro, and Anna G. Eshoo Respond to Addition of NSO group to Entity List for Malicious Cyber Activities

Statement

Representatives Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), Katie Porter (CA-45), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), and Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18) issued the following statement today on Commerce Department's entity listing of NSO Group for sales of Pegasus spyware linked to serious human rights abuses around the world.

"The entity listing by Commerce Secretary Raimondo is a victory for human rights. The NSO Group sold Pegasus to repressive governments knowing that it would most likely be used to target journalists, activists, peaceful critics, and persecuted groups. The entity listing signals that the US government is ready to take strong action to stop US exporters and investors from engaging with such companies. It also shows that the United States will not hesitate to blacklist companies associated with our allies or key strategic partners when such activities directly threaten US interests and ideals.

The entity listings, as well as the Secretary's recent proposed rule limiting US exports of cyber-intrusion tools like NSO's, respond directly to calls we made this summer following revelations of the full scope of NSO Group's sales to security agencies that routinely engage in violent campaigns to suppress peaceful dissent and democratic movements. There is no reason why US technology providers should be exporting assistance to companies like NSO Group--and the proposed cyber-intrusion rule would also limit exports of all US-origin hacking tools like NSO's to the same set of repressive regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, or Belarus.

At the same time, we have also urged the administration to establish a sanctions regime to hold individuals and companies accountable for selling these tools to authoritarian states. While the entity listing limits exports by US companies in support of NSO Group, it would not limit involvement of American investment funds that have been complicit in the company's abusive business model. We renew our calls for the administration to work with allies to establish multilateral agreements that would limit the ability of investors in democratic countries to subsidize companies selling hack-for-hire weapons on the open market."