Malicious Compliance

If someone follows the letter, but not the spirit of the law, that means they adhered strictly to the rules in such a way that they defy the intended outcome of those rules.

This might mean leveraging a loophole in a tax law that was intended to help low-income people, but which in practice mostly helps wealthy CEOs, and it might mean wearing a mask in public spaces as mandated during a pandemic, but the mask in question is made of mesh and sequins: a decorative object, not something that prevents the spread of a worrisome, aerosol-borne virus.

There’s a variation of this concept called “Malicious Compliance” which refers to letter-following that actually works against the spirit of the law, rather than finding a loophole or simply bypassing it.