Judge Orders Meta to Pay New Mexico $25 Billion Over Misleading Users on Data Privacy

Judge Mathew found the deception was intentional. He wrote that Facebook promised users they controlled their data and that this was false, the ABC says. The state filed the lawsuit in 2021, per Engadget, and TechCrunch says the verdict came after a two-week trial. Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy behind the original scandal, grew out of a British defence contractor, SLC Group, and worked with the Trump campaign in 2016. The scandal itself is nearly a decade old, Engadget notes.

What does Meta say?

Chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the case seeks to impose "a tax on speech" and that Meta is confident it will prevail on appeal. He added that the ruling and the state's enforcement approach make it all but impossible to do business in New Mexico, according to the ABC.

Attorney General Raul Torrez said the judgment should send an unambiguous message to Silicon Valley. At a press conference he said the money could have paid for the construction of schools for the next 100 years, TechCrunch reports.

What happens next?

Years may pass before New Mexico sees any of the money, because the appeal comes first. Engadget notes that Meta settled with nearly all other states over child safety claims, including about $459 million tied to Cambridge Analytica claims, but New Mexico did not join that settlement.

The appeal will test whether a penalty set near a ninth of the statutory maximum survives, and whether other states look at New Mexico's route as a template.