Meta ordered to pay $25 billion fine
A United States district judge in New Mexico, Francis Mathew, ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to pay a fine of US$25 billion, reduced from an initial calculation of US$219 billion. The judge said the violations and misrepresentations were ‘willful’ and spanned ‘more than 11 years’, from 2010 to 2021.
The judgment followed a two‑week trial earlier this year that found Meta had ‘spent years lying to the public about how it handled Facebook user data’. The jury concluded that Meta intentionally misled the public about three matters: that user data was never shared with or accessed by third parties without permission; how the company benefited from content that included hate speech; and how rules against such content were enforced. The jury also found that Meta violated New Mexico state law more than 40 million times.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said, ‘For too long, powerful technology companies have operated as though their size and influence put them beyond the reach of the law… Today’s result makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.’ He added that the state had sought up to US$40 billion in fines.
Meta’s head lawyer C. J. Mahoney said the ruling makes it ‘all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico’. Mahoney said Meta will appeal the decision and expressed confidence the appeal will succeed. He also described the lawsuit as an attempt to ‘impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online’.
The case concerns the enforcement of state data‑privacy and content‑moderation laws, highlighting the legal accountability of large digital platforms for claims about data handling and the public‑interest impact of their content‑moderation practices. It follows earlier penalties, including a US$5 billion fine imposed by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 and a nearly US$1 billion state fine for alleged misleading statements about child safety.
Meta indicated that it intends to appeal the New Mexico data‑privacy ruling. The company also noted ongoing investments in artificial‑intelligence projects, with projected spending of at least US$135 billion this year.
