Meta Ordered To Pay $25 Billion In New Mexico Privacy Case
A New Mexico judge imposed $25 billion in penalties after a jury found Meta misled residents about privacy and other platform practices; Meta plans to appeal.
A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in penalties after a jury found that it misled residents about its handling of user data and other platform practices. The case grew out of scrutiny following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, though the reports differ on how directly that scandal figured in the claims. Meta says it will appeal.
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What the jury found
The lawsuit was filed in 2021. In September, a Santa Fe jury found roughly 43 million violations of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, according to Engadget. The Verge reports that jurors concluded Meta had misled consumers about how it protected their data and addressed misinformation and hate speech on its platforms.
The Cambridge Analytica connection has been described differently. Engadget says the case was not directly about the data Cambridge Analytica harvested; it focused instead on Facebook’s statements over time about user data, privacy settings and content moderation. TechCrunch says part of the case concerned Meta’s handling of a third-party app linked to the data breach, alongside its privacy policies and efforts to limit misinformation.
How the judge reached $25 billion
Each violation could carry a penalty of up to $5,000. The Verge says Judge Francis Mathew found the highest per-violation penalty justified by the number, duration and repeated nature of the violations, among other factors, but reduced the resulting total to $25 billion. Engadget reports that the state had sought $35 billion to $40 billion, while Meta argued for no more than $3.45 billion.
According to Engadget, the penalty will go to New Mexico’s school system, and interest will accrue at 15 percent annually until it is paid in full. Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the case was about whether companies could mislead consumers about their personal information without meaningful consequences, The Verge reports.
Meta’s response and the broader dispute
Meta rejects the ruling. In a statement reported by TechCrunch, chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the state’s approach would make doing business in New Mexico nearly impossible. He argued that the lawsuit sought to impose a “tax on speech” through rules about what people can say online and said Meta expected to prevail on appeal.
The $25 billion order is separate from Meta’s other recent disputes with states over child safety. Engadget reports that New Mexico did not join a settlement with nearly every other US state, allowing this case to proceed to trial. The appeal means the ordered payment is not yet the final word in the New Mexico case.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.