New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay $25 billion over Facebook privacy claims
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties after a jury found the company repeatedly misled Facebook users about data privacy and content moderation.
State District Judge Francis Mathew issued the order Wednesday, writing that Facebook falsely promised users they controlled their data. The jury found Meta responsible for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer-protection laws and determined that 26 of 29 statements by the company and its leadership were misleading. Mathew calculated that state law could support penalties exceeding $219 billion but reduced the award to $25 billion.
The state’s 2021 lawsuit arose partly from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The now-defunct political consulting firm obtained personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent and used it for targeted political advertising, including …