A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion in civil penalties after a jury found that the company violated the state’s consumer protection law more than 43 million times.
The case, heard in Santa Fe, grew out of claims brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. He argued that Meta misled Facebook users about how the company handled their personal information after the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The attorney general also challenged the company’s public statements about hate speech and content moderation, including claims that some prominent accounts received different treatment.
Under New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, the court may impose a penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation. Judge Francis Mathew issued the award after jurors concluded that Meta’s conduct violated the law on a massive scale. The verdict ranks among the largest civil awards in U.S. legal history.
During the two-week trial, jurors watched recorded testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
The Cambridge Analytica controversy involved a political consulting firm that obtained Facebook users’ data without proper authorization and used it to target voters ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Meta has paid substantial sums to resolve other cases tied to the scandal, including a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 and a $725 million settlement in a consumer class action in 2022. The company also reached a $459 million agreement this summer with 46 states and two U.S. territories.
New Mexico pursued its case independently instead of joining broader coalitions of state attorneys general. The state’s verdict was the first jury decision in the country to find Meta liable in a case of this kind.
Meta may challenge the ruling. The case could have major financial consequences for the company and add to wider scrutiny of how social media platforms protect user data and enforce their content policies.
