A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in penalties in a data privacy case stemming from the company's Cambridge Analytica scandal nearly a decade ago. The penalty, revealed in a court filing, follows a September jury verdict in a Santa Fe courthouse that found the social media giant liable for misleading state citizens about how it safeguards and collects user data and prevents harmful information from spreading on its services.
The jury concluded that Meta committed more than 43 million violations of the state's unfair practices act, with each carrying a civil penalty of up to $5,000. A judge was responsible for determining the final fine. The filing showed the state was initially awarded $219.5 billion, but the penalty was ultimately reduced to $25 billion. District Court Judge Francis Mathew wrote that the number of willful violations, their duration, the involvement of senior Facebook leadership and the size of New Mexico audiences justified the highest penalty allowed under the law. He also ordered interest to accrue at 15% annually until the fine is paid in full.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the ruling shows that powerful technology companies cannot place themselves beyond the reach of the law. Meta chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney criticized the penalty, saying the company is "confident" it will prevail on appeal and arguing that the ruling makes it nearly impossible to do business in the state.
Meta previously settled several Cambridge Analytica-related lawsuits nationwide as part of an August settlement of nearly $17 billion with a coalition of state attorneys general. New Mexico was not part of that deal, allowing its case to proceed to trial. The judge found that Facebook failed to conduct the comprehensive investigation it had promised after the revelations, describing its internal examination as "willfully ineffective."
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing