Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion Penalty for Misleading Facebook Users About Data Privacy

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Although the jury concluded that Meta had over 43 million violations of the state’s unfair practices act, with each transgression carrying a civil penalty as high as $5,000, a New Mexico judge was responsible for determining the ultimate fine. The Wednesday filing showed that the state was awarded $219.5 billion, but the penalty was ultimately reduced to $25 billion.

“The extraordinary number of willful violations found by the jury, the duration and repetition of the conduct, the breadth of subjects on which violations occurred, the involvement of senior Facebook leadership, the size of New Mexico audiences reached, and the clear intentional and systematic nature of Facebook’s repeated misstatements established in the trial record support the highest level of penalty allowed by the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act – $5,000 per violation found by the jury,” New Mexico district court judge Francis Mathew wrote in the filing.

The judge added that interest on the penalty shall accrue at the rate of 15% each year until the fine is paid off in full.

In August, a court ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a fund over child harm.

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