A US judge has ordered a Meta $25bn penalty in a consumer protection case brought by New Mexico, after a jury found the Facebook owner misled users about how their personal data was shared.
Judge Francis Mathew said the facts would have justified a penalty of $219 billion, but reduced it to $25bn.
Why the Meta $25bn penalty was imposed
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the suit in 2021. The state argued that Meta deceived users over privacy, pointing to the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which data of about 87 million Facebook users was harvested without their consent.
The jury agreed that the company’s statements to users were misleading under state law.
Other states settled
Six other states chose to settle similar claims. In August they received $459.2m as part of a wider $17.1bn multistate agreement with the company.
What it means for users
The ruling is one of the largest privacy penalties against a tech company in the United States. It adds pressure on social media platforms, including in markets like Pakistan, to be clearer about how user data is collected and shared.
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