Judge orders Meta to pay New Mexico record $25 billion penalty
Jurors found Facebook misled users about privacy and content moderation. A judge has now set the penalty. Meta calls the case a "tax on speech" and says it will appeal.
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A judge in Santa Fe has ordered Facebook parent Meta to pay a $25 billion penalty. Judge Francis Mathew ruled under New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act, with interest accruing at 15% a year until the sum is paid. In September, jurors found close to 44 million violations and sided with the state on 31 of 34 counts. With a cap of $5,000 per violation, the theoretical maximum was about $220 billion; the state had sought $35 billion to $45 billion, according to ABC News.
The jury found Facebook made false statements about users' ability to control their data, its efforts against hate speech and misinformation, and how thoroughly it investigated the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from about 87 million profiles reached the consulting firm. Forty-eight other states settled with Facebook, while New Mexico sued on its own. Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the judgment "should be a clear warning to everyone in big tech" and that "no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable." He said the money will go to the state's education fund.
Meta Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said the case "makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico" and that the lawsuit seeks to "impose a tax on speech." The company is "confident we will prevail on appeal," he said. During the trial, Meta's lawyers called the state's evidence outdated.