Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion in New Mexico Case

New Mexico orders Meta to pay $25 billion A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion over allegations that the company deceived residents about its data privacy practices. The ruling follows a two-week trial examining Meta’s alleged wrongdoing and represents the company’s largest payout yet in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to the source report. The case centered on whether Meta misled people in New Mexico about how their personal data was handled. The jury’s findings informed the judge’s order, imposing a substantial financial penalty on the company. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the resolution could have funded the construction of schools for the next 100 years. The order is tied to the state’s consumer protection laws and Meta’s practices around user privacy. It comes amid wider scrutiny of the company’s handling of data and its responsibilities on its platforms. Meta has said it will appeal the decision, while the ruling sets out the immediate financial consequence of the state’s case against the company. Jury finds 43 million consumer protection violations After a two-week trial, a New Mexico jury found that Meta had committed 43 million violations of the state’s consumer protection laws. Each violation carried a penalty of $5,000, according to The New York Times, resulting in the figure at the center of the case. The jury’s finding concerned the company’s alleged wrongdoing, and its deliberations preceded a judge’s order that Meta pay $25 billion to New Mexico. The scale of the penalty reflects the number of violations the jury found, with the same $5,000 amount applied to each one. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez commented on the resolution at a press conference, saying, “We may have paid for the construction of schools for the next 100 years.” The remark underscored the size of the potential public benefit he associated with the outcome. The verdict followed the state’s case over Meta’s conduct and data privacy practices. The jury’s finding of 43 million violations formed the basis for the per-violation penalties described in the report. Meta said it would appeal the decision. Case involved Cambridge Analytica and platform policies The case examined several aspects of Meta’s conduct, including its handling of a third-party app linked to the Cambridge Analytica data breach. Other parts of the dispute focused on the company’s data privacy policies and its efforts to limit misinformation on its platform. Cambridge Analytica was an outgrowth of SLC Group, a British defense contractor specializing in influence operations and other political work. The company worked with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election and was involved in a number of controversial initiatives. The app’s connection to the breach formed part of a broader case over Meta’s practices and platform policies. After a two-week trial, the jury found that Meta had committed 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. The judge ordered the company to pay $25 billion to the state over its role in deceiving resident users about data privacy practices. Meta says it will appeal the ruling New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the resolution could have an impact far beyond the case itself. “We may have paid for the construction of schools for the next 100 years,” he told journalists at a press conference. Meta’s chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, criticized the state’s enforcement approach and said the company would appeal. In a statement shared with TechCrunch, Mahoney said the ruling and the attorney general’s approach “makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico.” He argued that the lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online. “We are confident we will prevail on appeal,” Mahoney said. While the appeal proceeds, Meta says it will continue building its platform. Mahoney said the company would keep working on a “safe and free platform” to connect millions of Americans, grow small businesses, and help the country maintain its competitive edge.