A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion after a jury found that Facebook repeatedly misled users about how their personal information was collected, shared and protected. The judgment follows a case brought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez and is one of the largest financial penalties imposed on the company.
The violations included statements that users controlled how their information was shared, that Facebook did not sell or provide personal data to advertisers, and that the company did not buy or sell users’ data. The jury also found deceptive statements about Facebook’s handling of misinformation, hate speech, content moderation and third-party applications.
The case focused heavily on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. A personality-quiz application obtained information linked to roughly 87 million Facebook profiles, and the data was transferred to the political consulting firm for targeted advertising. New Mexico argued that Facebook misled residents about the breach and about the steps it would take to investigate applications, audit misuse and notify affected users.
The court cited the duration and repetition of the conduct, the number of affected residents, the involvement of senior executives and what it described as an intentional, systematic pattern of misleading statements.
Meta said it expects to prevail on appeal and argued that the case improperly treats online speech as subject to a new tax. The company sought a penalty of no more than about $3. 4 billion, while New Mexico had requested between $35 billion and $40 billion. The penalty is expected to remain tied up during the appeal process. Under New Mexico’s Constitution, civil penalties from consumer-protection violations are directed toward education spending.