A US judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion (approximately) in civil penalties to the state of New Mexico after a jury found that the social media giant had misled Facebook users about the protection of their personal information. The ruling marks one of the biggest financial penalties imposed on a technology company in the United States and brings renewed attention to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that exposed the misuse of millions of Facebook users’ data.
The order was passed by Judge Francis J Mathew of the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe on October 21, following a jury verdict in September that held Meta liable for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. The jury concluded that the company had made misleading statements about its data privacy practices, access to users’ personal information and its efforts to address misinformation and hate speech on its platforms.
The case dates back to the Cambridge Analytica controversy, which came to light in 2018. The British political consulting firm had obtained personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party personality quiz application without their consent. The information was subsequently used for political profiling and targeted advertising, including activities associated with Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign.
Following the revelations, New Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2021, alleging that Facebook had misled consumers about the extent to which their personal information was protected and shared with external entities. The state also accused the company of failing to adequately enforce its policies against hate speech and misinformation.
During the trial, the jury examined 29 statements made by the company and its executives concerning privacy protections and content moderation. It found 26 of these statements to be misleading, resulting in nearly 44 million violations under the state’s Unfair Practices Act. The law permits penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation, potentially exposing the company to an even larger financial liability.
New Mexico had sought a penalty of between $35 billion and $40 billion, arguing that a substantial financial consequence was necessary to hold the technology giant accountable. However, the judge ultimately fixed the penalty at $25 billion. Under the New Mexico Constitution, the money recovered through such penalties is designated for education-related expenditure.
Welcoming the judgment, Attorney General Raúl Torrez described it as a significant victory for consumers and said it sent a strong message that even the world’s largest corporations could not operate beyond the reach of the law. He maintained that companies must be held accountable for misleading consumers about the use and protection of their personal information.
Meta, however, has rejected the ruling and announced that it would challenge the decision in an appeal. The company’s chief legal officer, C J Mahoney, argued that the state’s approach to enforcement could make it difficult for the company to operate in New Mexico. Meta also maintained that the lawsuit sought to impose restrictions on online expression and said it was confident of succeeding in the appeal.
The judgment comes amid a series of legal challenges facing Meta over user privacy, online safety and the impact of its social media platforms. The company had previously paid a $5 billion penalty to the US Federal Trade Commission in 2019 in connection with the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
New Mexico chose to pursue its case independently rather than join a broader settlement reached by several other US states and territories over allegations concerning social media platforms and their impact on young users.
Although the financial implications of the latest ruling remain subject to the appeals process, the decision is being viewed as a significant development in the debate over data privacy and corporate accountability. It also highlights the growing willingness of state authorities to use consumer protection laws to hold major technology companies responsible for their handling of users’ personal information.
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