New Mexico judge imposes $25bn penalty on Meta over Cambridge Analytica data misuse
A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $25bn after a jury concluded the company misled users about how their Facebook data was handled. The case stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from millions of users was obtained for political consulting tied to Trump’s 2016 campaign. The judge said a larger penalty was legally possible but reduced the final amount.
New Mexico’s attorney general brought the suit in 2021 after disclosures that Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy, had gathered personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app. Jurors later concluded that 26 of 29 challenged statements by Meta and its leaders were misleading, and they found more than 43 million violations of state consumer-protection law.
The statute permits up to $5,000 per violation, with proceeds directed to schools. The judge said state law could support more than $219bn but set the award at $25bn. Meta also reported a $9.9bn U.S. settlement and a $17bn children’s-addiction accord.
The penalty could sharpen incentives for social platforms to disclose data-sharing practices more clearly and to tighten oversight of third-party apps. It may also affect users who rely on Facebook, especially younger people and parents concerned about addictive design, if companies change product features or safety policies. Large financial awards could influence how other states pursue consumer-protection claims, though the final impact may depend on appeals and subsequent court rulings.