TORONTO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ruled on Friday

in favor of Meta Platform Inc's WhatsApp in a lawsuit

accusing Israel's NSO Group of exploiting a bug in the WhatsApp

messaging app to install spy software allowing the surveillance

of 1,400 people, including journalists, human rights activists

and dissidents.

Judge Phyllis Hamilton, of Northern District of California,

granted WhatsApp's motion for summary judgment and found NSO

Group liable for hacking and breach of contract, according to

court documents.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter and Ryan Jones; Editing Jasper

Ward and Muralikumar Anantharaman)