New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay Record 25 Billion Dollar Fine Over Data Privacy Lies

A judge in New Mexico on Wednesday ordered Meta to pay a 25 billion dollar fine following a trial that found the company spent years lying about user data handling. The penalty amounts to roughly 24 billion pounds or 18.6 billion pounds depending on conversion metrics, and represents the largest fine ever levied against the tech giant. Judge Francis Mathew reduced the total calculated penalty of 219 billion dollars down to 25 billion dollars, which roughly equals the company's profits each quarter.

Background

The legal battle began due to Meta's role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where a political consulting firm used data from millions of Facebook users during the 2016 US presidential election. Lawyers for New Mexico argued that Meta executives made false statements claiming user data was never shared without permission. State lawyers stated that roughly 2 million residents were impacted, and a jury found Meta violated state laws over 40 million times across an 11-year span from 2010 to 2021. Judge Mathew noted that communications from senior executives like Mark Zuckerberg were designed to mislead the public.

Reactions And Other Cases

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez stated that the result proves no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable. State lawyers had originally asked for up to 40 billion dollars, while Meta argued any amount over 3.4 billion dollars would be unconstitutional. A spokesperson for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. New Mexico also fined Meta nearly 1 billion dollars this year for misleading the public about child safety on its platforms, while California and other states settled a separate child safety lawsuit with Meta without a fine.

Context

State-level lawsuits against major technology companies have become a primary tool for holding global platforms accountable for consumer protection and privacy violations. Data privacy regulations and enforcement actions have steadily increased worldwide following major data harvesting scandals over the past decade. Legal penalties of this scale reflect growing efforts by state authorities to target corporate practices that span millions of users.