A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion on Wednesday after a jury found the Facebook parent misled consumers about its data privacy practices, delivering one of the largest penalties ever imposed on a US company. The case traces back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consulting firm tied to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent.

Judge Francis Mathew wrote in his order that Facebook's wrongdoing — "over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public — goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices." He found that a penalty of more than $219 billion was warranted under state law, which allows up to $5,000 per violation, but reduced the figure to $25 billion, according to Reuters.

Contents

  1. A jury verdict in September, a judge's number in October
  2. What the state accused Meta of doing
  3. Meta's response: "impossible to do business"
  4. Wall Street shrugs: shares rise as amount clarifies
  5. A decade of fallout from one quiz app
  6. Why this ruling could embolden other states
  7. Key takeaways
  8. Frequently Asked Questions
  9. Sources
  10. Chronicle related coverage

A jury verdict in September, a judge's number in October

The case was filed five years ago, in 2021, by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. Last month, a jury delivered its verdict: Facebook was liable for nearly 44 million violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act, finding the company had deceived users about who could access their personal data.

The jury decided liability; it fell to Judge Mathew to set the amount. Prosecutors sought the maximum — $5,000 per violation, which would have totalled roughly $215 billion. Meta's lawyers argued the penalty should be as little as $3.4 billion. The judge landed at $25 billion, calling it one of the largest single-state verdicts against a company in American history, Torrez said.

The money, under New Mexico law, is designated for public education.

What the state accused Meta of doing

The lawsuit alleged that Facebook systematically lied to New Mexico users about who had access to their data, how the company handles hate speech and misinformation, and other internal policies. According to the state, the company knew that third parties had broad access to users' personal information, and tolerated hate speech and other harmful content when it benefited the bottom line, USA Today reported.

The allegations connect directly to the 2018 revelations about Cambridge Analytica, the now-defunct London-based political consultancy that worked for Trump's 2016 campaign. The firm obtained personal information through a third-party personality-quiz app, then used it for voter profiling and political ad targeting.

Meta's response: "impossible to do business"

Meta plans to appeal. In a statement, chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney argued the ruling would make it nearly impossible for the company to operate in New Mexico.

"This ruling, and the Attorney General's approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico," Mahoney said. "At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online. We are confident we will prevail on appeal."

The company had previously argued that a penalty in the billions of dollars risked violating its constitutional rights to due process and protection from excessive fines.

Wall Street shrugs: shares rise as amount clarifies

Investors barely flinched. Meta shares rose roughly 2% to around $708 in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The $25 billion penalty equals about 1.4% of Meta's roughly $1.8 trillion market capitalisation — and analysts noted that investors already understood the risk of a substantial penalty after the September jury verdict, KuCoin's market coverage noted. Wednesday's decision clarified the amount, and the company can appeal it down.

The market's calm verdict: enormous fines are now a priced-in cost of operating at Meta's scale.

A decade of fallout from one quiz app

The Cambridge Analytica scandal first broke in 2018, and its legal and reputational fallout has stretched for a decade. In 2019, Meta — then Facebook — paid a $5 billion penalty to the US Federal Trade Commission over the same scandal. That record has now been eclipsed fivefold by the New Mexico judgment.

Six other states settled their Cambridge Analytica-related claims for $459.2 million, as part of a broader $17.1 billion multistate settlement Meta reached in August to resolve states' claims that its platforms had harmed teen mental health. New Mexico, notably, did not join that settlement — and walked away with far more.

Why this ruling could embolden other states

The New Mexico verdict matters beyond its dollar figure. It shows that a single state attorney general, armed with a consumer protection statute carrying per-violation penalties, can extract a sum comparable to major federal enforcement actions — without joining a multistate coalition.

Technology companies have operated at a scale that made such suits rare. Attorney General Torrez framed the case as exactly that kind of signal: "For too long, powerful technology companies have operated as though their size and influence put them beyond the reach of the law," he said. The verdict, he argued, proves that state-level enforcement can impose meaningful consequences for misleading consumers about what happens to their personal information.

For Meta, the appeal will test whether courts view massive per-violation penalties as legitimate deterrence or unconstitutional excess. For the rest of Big Tech, the case is a warning that the era of settling once, federally, and moving on may be over.

Key takeaways

  • A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion after a jury found nearly 44 million violations of state consumer protection law.
  • The case stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consultancy harvested data from as many as 87 million Facebook users.
  • Judge Francis Mathew wrote that Facebook's wrongdoing "goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," and considered a penalty above $219 billion before reducing it.
  • Meta says the ruling makes it "all but impossible to do business" in New Mexico and will appeal.
  • Shares still rose ~2% — the penalty equals just 1.4% of Meta's $1.8 trillion market value.
  • Six other states settled similar claims for $459.2 million; New Mexico went to trial and won dramatically more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was Meta ordered to pay $25 billion?

A New Mexico jury found that Facebook committed nearly 44 million violations of the state's consumer protection laws by misleading users about their data privacy. Judge Francis Mathew then set the penalty at $25 billion — reduced from a potential $219 billion maximum under the per-violation formula.

What is the Cambridge Analytica connection?

The case grew out of the 2018 scandal in which Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, obtained personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party personality-quiz app, without their consent.

Will Meta actually pay the full amount?

Not necessarily. Meta has said it will appeal the judgment, and its chief legal officer expressed confidence the company will prevail. The final amount could be reduced or overturned through the appeals process.

How does this compare to Meta's earlier privacy fines?

It dwarfs them. Meta paid $5 billion to the FTC in 2019 over the same scandal. Six other states settled their Cambridge Analytica claims for a combined $459.2 million. The $25 billion New Mexico judgment is the largest penalty Meta has received.

Where does the money go?

Under New Mexico law, fines collected for violations of consumer protection laws fund public education in the state.

Sources

Chronicle related coverage