Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty over Cambridge Analytica case
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion.
The short version
- The massive penalty follows a deceptive trade practices trial.
- A jury found the tech giant committed nearly 50 million violations.
- Meta called the ruling an impossible tax on speech.
- The company plans to appeal the decision.
Why it matters to you. For business owners running ads on the platform, the legal battle marks another massive financial hurdle for the tech giant.
A judge in New Mexico just ordered Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, to pay a staggering $25 billion penalty. According to Business Insider, a jury found that the company committed nearly 50 million violations of a state law prohibiting deceptive trade practices.
Each violation carries a penalty of up to $5,000. "Facebook's wrongdoing—over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public—goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," Judge Francis J. Mathew wrote in the ruling. The case went to trial last month after New Mexico first sued the company in 2021.
Internal communications presented during the trial showed top executives discussing user privacy settings. Meta's chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said the penalty makes it all but impossible to do business in the state. Mahoney added that the lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech.
The company stated it is confident it will prevail on appeal.
