New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion Over Data Privacy Violations

The lawsuit, brought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, targeted Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) after a jury found that the company willfully deceived the public across 26 public statements issued between May 2010 and August 2021. The case was heard in New Mexico state court, where the jury determined that Meta committed nearly 44 million willful violations of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act.

The allegations centered on Meta's deceptive practices, including exploiting users' lack of understanding of their privacy settings, as evidenced by an email from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Furthermore, the judge noted that Meta failed to adequately investigate and notify users following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, despite making promises to do so.

Judge Francis J. Mathew ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties, which was reduced from an initial maximum of about $219.5 billion. The ruling is currently pending a decision on injunctive relief, and the penalty includes 15% annual interest until payment. The state is represented by Randi McGinn of McGinn Montoya Love Curry & Sievers P.A. and Corban Rhodes, Adam Levitt, Daniel Schwartz, J. Gordon Bergstresser, Emma Bruder, Rebecca Trickey and Amy Keller of DiCello Levitt.