Meta Ordered to Pay New Mexico $25 Billion in Facebook Privacy Case

Meta Platforms has been ordered to pay New Mexico a record $25 billion after a jury found the company misled Facebook users about its handling of personal data. The ruling, issued by state District Judge Francis Mathew, stems from violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws, with jurors finding Meta responsible for over 43 million violations. Judge Mathew stated that Facebook “promised users that they controlled their data. This was false.” The case originated from revelations about Cambridge Analytica obtaining data from as many as 87 million Facebook users without consent and using it for targeted political advertising during the 2016 election.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez described the judgment as one of the largest state verdicts against a company in US history and a signal to Silicon Valley that accountability will be enforced. The awarded funds will be directed to the state’s education system. Meta lawyer Matt Nicholson argued that a $40 billion penalty would be excessive, while New Mexico’s counsel, Randi McGinn, urged holding “tech titans” accountable. The jury found 26 of 29 statements made by Meta regarding privacy and content moderation to be misleading, though Nicholson argued no New Mexican had demonstrably been harmed by them.

This verdict follows a similar ruling in March where Meta was ordered to pay $375 million, plus an additional $567 million, for misleading users about the safety of young people on its platforms. Meta plans to appeal the $25 billion judgment, with Chief Legal Officer CJ Mahoney claiming the ruling makes it “all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico” and amounts to a “tax on speech.” The penalty significantly exceeds the $5 billion fine the Federal Trade Commission levied against Facebook in 2019. Despite the penalty, Meta’s shares rose 2% immediately after the announcement, as the company was scheduled to report its quarterly earnings.

Where they differ

• Al Jazeera, PBS Newshour, and the Indian Express all highlighted the size of the fine as the largest ever against a tech giant, while SCMP framed it specifically as a 'historic' penalty in the context of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
• PBS Newshour and the Indian Express directly quoted Attorney General Torrez emphasizing the message to Silicon Valley, a point less prominently featured in the SCMP and Al Jazeera reports.
• The Indian Express and SCMP emphasized that Facebook’s deception was intentional, a detail not explicitly highlighted in the PBS Newshour or Al Jazeera coverage.

What is not yet known

• The specific details of Meta’s appeal and the potential reduction of the final payment amount remain uncertain.
• The long-term impact of the ruling on Meta’s business operations in New Mexico is yet to be determined.

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