Meta ordered to pay $25 billion in Cambridge Analytica case

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been ordered to pay $25 billion to the US state of New Mexico, according to a recent verdict. The decision comes after a jury found Facebook to have deceived its users regarding privacy and content moderation. Judge Francis Mathew noted that Facebook had misled users by claiming they controlled their data, which was untrue.

The case stems from the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal, where a third-party app obtained data from 87 million Facebook profiles and sold it to the UK political consulting firm. The data was then used for targeted ads, including those for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. While nearly all US states settled with Facebook for a total payment of $18 billion in August, New Mexico refused to settle and filed a lawsuit against the company.

Prosecutors argued that Facebook had deceived the state's population of 2.1 million people through its public statements on privacy and allowed the spread of misinformation and violent content. Facebook's legal team countered by stating that New Mexico had not proven that users were harmed by the company's statements and highlighted the platform's robust content moderation.

Despite this, a jury found Facebook liable for over 43 million violations of New Mexico's consumer protection laws. The $25 billion fine, while lower than the demanded $35 billion to $40 billion, is significantly higher than the $3.45 billion cap suggested by Meta's lawyers. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez emphasized that the fine sends a clear message to Silicon Valley, noting that the money will likely remain tied up due to appeals but will ultimately go towards funding education in the state.