43 million violations, $25 billion penalty: Meta loses major Facebook privacy battle

New Mexico sued Meta in 2021, accusing the company of misleading users in the state about who could access their data and how it handled harmful content on its platforms. "Facebook's wrongdoing, over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public, goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," Mathew wrote. The judge said state law supported a penalty of more than $219 billion.

However, he reduced the amount to $25 billion. Meta has said it will appeal the ruling. Meta says ruling could make business difficult in New Mexico C.J. Mahoney, Meta's chief legal officer, said the company was confident it would win its appeal. “This ruling, and the Attorney General's approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico," Mahoney said.

"At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online," he added. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the penalty was among the largest financial penalties imposed on a corporation in US history. "It has been a long time coming holding Big Tech accountable," Torrez told a press conference in Albuquerque after Wednesday's ruling. "I think today's judgment is a clear break with that past and a very clear warning to those in this space and beyond that we intend to protect our people and protect our consumers," he added.

New Mexico's attorney general filed the lawsuit in 2021 after revelations that Cambridge Analytica had collected personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app. The state accused Meta of misleading users about who could access their information. It also alleged that the company had failed to properly address hate speech and misinformation on its platforms. According to the lawsuit, Meta knew that third parties had broad access to users' personal information.

The state also alleged that the company allowed hate speech and other harmful content to remain on its platforms when doing so helped its business. Cambridge Analytica used the collected information to build voter profiles and target people with political messages. The company later shut down following the scandal. Meta had previously faced a $5 billion penalty from the US Federal Trade Commission in 2019 over the Cambridge Analytica case.

Six other states also filed lawsuits against Meta over the scandal. Those states settled their claims for $459.2 million as part of a wider $17.1 billion settlement reached in August. The broader settlement was intended to resolve states' claims that Meta's platforms had harmed teenagers' mental health. Jury found more than 43 million violations In September, jurors found that Meta and its leadership had made 26 misleading statements out of 29 examined statements on data privacy, hate speech and other issues.

The jury calculated the possible reach of those statements and found that Meta had committed more than 43 million violations of New Mexico's consumer protection laws. During a hearing on October 1, Randi McGinn, a lawyer representing New Mexico, asked the judge to award the state between $35 billion and $40 billion. "This court should speak to Meta in the only language it understands, which is money, and the value of its stock price," McGinn said.

45 billion, according to court filings. The company argued that it did not sell users' personal data and that the state had failed to prove that any consumer had actually been misled. The judge ultimately set the penalty at $25 billion, well above the amount sought by Meta but below the figure he said was supported by state law. Meta faces more lawsuits over child safety The ruling comes as Meta faces thousands of lawsuits and growing pressure from lawmakers over the effects of Instagram and Facebook on teenagers' mental health.

Another trial related to these issues is scheduled to begin next week. Earlier this year, New Mexico won $942 million in two trials against Meta. Those cases involved allegations that the company had facilitated the sexual exploitation of young people on Instagram and Facebook and misled consumers about the safety of its platforms. Meta has denied wrongdoing in various cases and is expected to challenge the latest ruling through the appeals process.

The latest ruling is likely to lead to a lengthy appeals process, with Meta maintaining that the penalty and the state's approach to the case are unfair.