Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion Over Cambridge Analytica Privacy Violations
A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to pay $25 billion in damages for deceiving users about its data privacy practices. The penalty, one of the largest levied against a tech giant, stems from a lawsuit filed by New Mexico in 2021 over a scandal involving the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The lawsuit claimed that Meta had misled users with its public statements about their data privacy, and a jury in the State District Court in Santa Fe ruled against the company, finding that it had committed 43 million violations of New Mexico's consumer protection laws. Each violation carried a penalty of up to $5,000.
Judge Francis J. Mathew wrote in his 20-page judgment that the company and its executives had "purposefully misled the public" and that the "extraordinary number of willful violations" over the years supported the highest level of penalty.
This is the latest blow to Meta, which has faced numerous court losses over the harms caused by its social media platforms. New Mexico has been leading the charge against Meta, with the state's attorney general, Raúl Torrez, saying that the decision "makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable."
Meta has said it will appeal the decision, with its chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, stating that the lawsuit seeks to impose a "tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online." However, some legal experts have said that the penalty could be the largest for any corporation from a jury verdict.
The case is a significant development in the ongoing debate over data privacy and the role of tech companies in protecting user information. New Mexico will apply the $25 billion awarded to a public education fund, while other states may pursue similar lawsuits against Meta.
