Meta fined $25bn in New Mexico over Cambridge Analytica-linked case

· Tech · United States

A jury found Meta guilty of lying to Facebook users in New Mexico about access to their data, and a judge ordered the company to pay $25 billion, one of the largest corporate penalties in US history and larger than an $18 billion settlement with 48 other states over similar claims. The case is linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Meta called the penalty "a tax on speech" and said it would contest it. The ruling adds to a series of legal cases over how the company handles users' personal data.

Why it matters：State-level privacy enforcement is producing penalties that rival national settlements, raising the cost of data misuse for global platforms.

Key points

  • The jury found Meta misled users in New Mexico.
  • The $25bn exceeds the $18bn multistate settlement.
  • Meta called the penalty "a tax on speech."

Sources (original reporting)

More stories from this day