New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion Penalty Over Data Privacy Misleading Statements

A New Mexico state judge ordered Meta Platforms to pay a staggering $25 billion in penalties on Wednesday, culminating a high-stakes legal battle over data privacy practices that traces back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ruling follows a jury decision in September finding that the social media giant had misled Facebook users about the security and privacy of their personal information.

Judge Francis Mathew determined the multi-billion-dollar penalty amount, handing a definitive legal victory to New Mexico. The state stood alone in the litigation as the only jurisdiction that chose not to settle its claims as part of a broader nationwide legal effort involving numerous other states.

Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the judge’s order. However, representatives for the corporation have previously stated that the company anticipates appealing the decision once a formal judgment is entered.

The underlying lawsuit originated in the wake of revelations that data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested the private information of more than 50 million Facebook users without authorization. That harvested data was subsequently utilized to micro-target political advertisements during the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle, igniting widespread public outcry and intense regulatory scrutiny over tech industry data practices.

Nearly a decade after those initial disclosures shocked the public and lawmakers alike, the ruling marks a major milestone in tech accountability. Legal experts note that the massive financial penalty signals that technology platforms can face unprecedented economic liabilities for deceiving consumers about how their digital data is managed, protected, and shared.