Key Takeaways
- A US judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in damages.
- The ruling stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal and alleged privacy violations.
- Meta plans to appeal the decision, with the case expected to delay payment.
A US judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in damages after a jury found the company responsible for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws.
The case centered on Facebook’s handling of user information and its misleading statements about privacy and content moderation, stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved the political consulting firm collecting Facebook user data for targeted political advertisements during the 2016 US presidential election.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez described the ruling as one of the largest state verdicts against a company in US history, highlighting the significant financial impact on Meta.
During the trial, jurors examined 34 separate statements Facebook made about user privacy and content moderation, finding 2.1 million violations on certain counts, bringing the total to over 43 million.
Meta has announced plans to appeal the $25 billion ruling, arguing that New Mexico’s consumer protection laws should not apply to residents who were not Facebook users when the alleged violations occurred.
The company’s lawyers also disputed the state’s claims about its privacy practices and defended changes made to its platform since the lawsuit was filed in 2021.
Meanwhile, 48 other US states reached a nationwide settlement with Facebook, while New Mexico pursued its case independently.
During the trial, New Mexico prosecutors also accused Facebook of allowing harmful and misleading content to spread while giving preferential treatment to certain accounts. However, jurors found that the state had not proven Facebook made false claims about removing harmful content, including misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied allegations that Facebook profited from harmful content during his video deposition, stating that the company must balance freedom of expression with content moderation.
The $25 billion penalty is expected to support education spending in New Mexico once the funds are collected. However, Meta’s planned appeal could delay payment and potentially change the final penalty.
Legal experts believe Meta may have grounds to challenge the size of the penalty, particularly the calculation of violations involving residents who may not have seen Facebook’s statements.
