Judge orders Meta to pay $25 billion over data deception
New Mexico's attorney general calls it the largest state verdict against the company. Meta said it will appeal.
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion for deceiving Facebook users about how it protected their data. Francis Mathew of the First Judicial District, in Santa Fe, handed down the penalty Wednesday.
In September, a jury found more than 43 million violations of the state's unfair practices law. The case grew out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal: a personality quiz harvested data from about 87 million Facebook profiles, which ended up with that political consultancy.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said it is the largest state verdict against the company in U.S. history and that Meta "lied to its users, to consumers and to people around the world." The money, he said, will go to the state's education fund.
The state had asked for between $35 billion and $45 billion. At the maximum of $5,000 per violation, the theoretical ceiling exceeded $219 billion.
Meta will appeal. Its chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said the company is confident it will win and that, with this penalty, operating in New Mexico is "nearly impossible." The state's lawyers estimate the appeal will take three to five years. It is unclear whether payment is suspended in the meantime.
New Mexico litigated alone. The other states that sued over the same conduct accepted a joint $459 million settlement. This year New Mexico had already won two other rulings against Meta: $375 million in March for failing to protect minors online and $567 million in August to reform Facebook and Instagram.
