Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion in Privacy Case

A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion US after a jury found that the company misled consumers about data privacy. The case arose from allegations that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm involved in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, obtained personal data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. New Mexico’s attorney general sued Meta in 2021, accusing it of misrepresenting who could access user data and how the company addressed hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content. The state argued that Meta knew third parties had broad access to personal information and tolerated harmful content when doing so benefited its business. Jurors found that 26 of 29 statements by Meta and its leadership were misleading, and identified more than 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws. State law permits penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, with the proceeds directed to the state’s school system. Judge Francis Mathew said a penalty exceeding $219 billion could be warranted under state law, but reduced the award to $25 billion. New Mexico’s lawyer had requested $35 billion to $40 billion, while Meta had asked the court to cap penalties at $3.45 billion. Meta argued that a larger amount could deter businesses from operating in the state and said the state had not shown that consumers were actually misled. The ruling follows an earlier New Mexico jury verdict against Meta concerning young users’ safety. That case resulted in $375 million in civil penalties, followed by a judge’s order for Meta to pay $567 million into a teen mental health fund and adopt protections for teen users. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the $25 billion order.

A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to pay $25 billion after a jury found that Facebook deceived users about privacy and content moderation. Judge Francis Mathew said Facebook had promised users control over their data, but that promise was false. The case is connected to the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a third-party quiz collected data from about 87 million Facebook profiles and sold it to the UK-based political consulting firm. Cambridge Analytica used the data for targeted advertising, including ads related to Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign. Most US states accepted an $18 billion settlement with Facebook in August that included releasing Meta from future liability over the Cambridge Analytica breach. New Mexico rejected the deal and sued, arguing that Facebook’s public statements about privacy misled the state’s roughly 2.1 million residents and that the platform allowed misinformation and violent content to spread. Meta’s lawyers argued that the state had not shown that users were actually harmed and said the company maintained robust content moderation. A jury found Facebook liable for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws. The court’s $25 billion award is less than the $35 billion to $40 billion sought by state prosecutors, but much more than Meta’s proposed $3.45 billion cap. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez called the result an unambiguous message to Silicon Valley. Although appeals may delay payment, the money is legally due to go into the state’s education fund; Torrez said it could finance school construction for generations. Meta said it would continue defending itself against what it called efforts to distort its record. The case adds to a broader wave of legal challenges facing social media companies, including a separate New Mexico verdict ordering Facebook to pay $567 million over harm to children.

A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion after a jury found that the company deceived users in a case connected to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The jury determined that the misconduct affected more than 2.1 million New Mexico residents. Meta has rejected the verdict, describing the penalty as “a tax on speech,” arguing that the ruling makes it nearly impossible to do business in the state, and saying it expects to prevail on appeal. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez called the decision a historic victory, saying the case concerned whether corporations could mislead consumers about the handling of personal information without meaningful consequences. The ruling follows Meta’s agreement to pay $18 billion to settle similar claims brought by 48 other states. The article recounts how Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained Facebook users’ personal data through a personality-quiz app. Although about 270,000 people installed the app, it also collected information about their friends, ultimately reaching roughly 87 million users worldwide. Facebook learned of the data acquisition in December 2015 but did not publicly disclose it until 2018, after a whistleblower came forward. The article places the New Mexico judgment within a broader wave of legal actions over social-media harms. In a separate New Mexico case, Meta faced nearly $1 billion in combined penalties related to harms to children: a jury awarded $375 million, and a judge later ordered product changes and an additional $567 million for treatment and prevention programs. Meta also agreed to pay up to $17.7 billion to 52 states and Washington, DC, over claims concerning youth engagement, public disclosures, and data collection from children under 13. The article additionally notes TikTok’s settlement with Alabama and a Los Angeles jury’s finding that Meta and YouTube were responsible for a teenager’s social-media addiction.