Meta ordered to pay New Mexico $25 billion for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook

The Menlo Park, California, company’s shares were trading 2% higher in the immediate aftermath of the penalty announcement, and it was scheduled to report its quarterly earnings later Wednesday. (AP)

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A judge on Wednesday ordered Meta to pay New Mexico $25 billion after a jury found the company liable for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook, marking the biggest fine ever against the tech giant.

Facebook’s deception was intentional and executives consistently misled users about how the platform worked, state District Court Judge Francis J. Mathew wrote in his ruling.

“Facebook promised users that they (the users) controlled their data. This was false,” he said.

Jurors in September found Meta liable for over 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws for making misleading public statements about how it handled users’ personal data. The case was brought after political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica harvested Facebook data to generate targeted political ads during the 2016 election season.

The award will serve as a warning to tech companies that New Mexico will hold them accountable, state Attorney General Raúl Torrez said at a news conference.

“This judgment should be a signal, an unambiguous message, to Silicon Valley,” he said.

Meta said the ruling and Torrez’s office’s approach to enforcement “makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico.”

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“At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online. We are confident we will prevail on appeal,” C.J. Mahoney, the company’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.

The Menlo Park, California, company’s shares were trading 2% higher in the immediate aftermath of the penalty announcement, and it was scheduled to report its quarterly earnings later Wednesday.