A New Mexico judge has ruled that Meta Platforms must pay a sum of $25 billion USD (equivalent to about $35 billion CAD) after a jury determined that the company had deceived consumers. The case stemmed from allegations that a political consulting firm linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had accessed data from millions of Facebook users without their consent.
Judge Francis Mathew stated in his order that Facebook’s misconduct, which had been ongoing and publicly disclosed over the years, struck at the core of the company’s business practices. While state law supported a penalty exceeding $219 billion USD, Mathew reduced it to $25 billion USD.
Meta’s spokesperson did not immediately provide a comment following the verdict.
The lawsuit against Meta was filed by the state’s attorney general in 2021 after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting company, had collected personal data from up to 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app.
The state accused Meta of deceiving New Mexico residents regarding data access, its handling of hate speech and misinformation, and other internal policies. The state alleged that Meta allowed broad third-party access to user data and tolerated harmful content when it benefited the company financially.
During the trial, jurors found that 26 out of 29 statements made by Meta and its leadership on these matters were misleading. They concluded that Meta had committed over 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws, with a potential penalty of up to $5,000 USD ($7,024 CAD) per violation.
In October, at a hearing, New Mexico’s lawyer requested a penalty between $35 billion and $40 billion USD, citing constitutional protections and the jury’s decision. Meta, on the other hand, argued for a penalty cap at $3.45 billion USD to prevent deterring businesses from the state.
This ruling marks the second verdict within six months against Meta Platforms by a Santa Fe jury in New Mexico. In the initial trial, Meta was found to have misled users about the safety of young users on its platforms and was ordered to pay $375 million USD ($526 million CAD) in penalties. Subsequently, the company was directed to pay $567 million USD ($796 million CAD) into a New Mexico fund for teen mental health and to implement safety measures for teen users on Facebook and Instagram.
