Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty in New Mexico data privacy case
A Santa Fe judge reduced a potential $219 billion statutory penalty down to a record fine, directing the money to state schools.
A court in New Mexico has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion (£18.6 billion) in civil penalties after a jury found the company systematically misled users about how it handled personal data in the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Judge Francis Mathew handed down the order in Santa Fe following a trial in which a jury determined Meta committed more than 43 million violations of state consumer protection laws. State prosecutors proved that company executives repeatedly made misleading public statements over an 11-year period between 2010 and 2021 regarding third-party access to user profiles and the enforcement of platform rules.
Proposed penalties and final ruling
| Party or authority | Penalty figure |
|---|---|
| Statutory calculation under New Mexico law | $219 billion |
| New Mexico state prosecutors | $35 billion to $40 billion |
| Final court penalty awarded | $25 billion |
| Meta proposed penalty cap | $3.45 billion |
"Facebook's wrongdoing – over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public – goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," Judge Mathew wrote in his order. While the calculated penalty under statutory limits reached $219 billion based on the sheer number of state residents affected, the judge capped the final amount at $25 billion. Under New Mexico law, all financial penalties recovered in the suit will go directly to the state school system.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez praised the verdict, stating that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable under state law.
Meta's chief legal officer CJ Mahoney condemned the judgment, saying it made doing business in New Mexico virtually impossible. Mahoney confirmed the tech company intends to appeal, arguing the lawsuit amounted to an unconstitutional tax on speech and that the state failed to show individual users suffered monetary harm.
The litigation began in 2021 following revelations that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica harvested personal data from up to 87 million Facebook users without consent ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.
The $25 billion judgment represents Meta's largest court penalty to date, adding to mounting legal liabilities. Meta recently agreed to a $17 billion multi-state settlement over youth safety allegations and lost a separate $942 million judgment in New Mexico earlier this year over child protection failures. Despite legal costs weighing on net income, Meta reported quarterly revenues of $64.6 billion, up 26 per cent year on year.
Key numbers
| What | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty ordered | $25 billion | Judge Francis Mathew court order |
| Consumer protection violations | More than 43 million | Santa Fe jury verdict |
| Calculated statutory maximum | $219 billion | Judge Francis Mathew court order |
| Quarterly revenue | $64.6 billion | Meta financial report |
In this story
| Name | Role in the story |
|---|---|
| New Mexico | US state whose attorney general brought the successful lawsuit. |
| Meta Platforms | Defendant social media giant ordered to pay historic penalty. |
