New Mexico jury orders Meta to pay record $25B fine

A New Mexico jury has ordered Meta to pay a record $25 billion fine for nearly 44 million violations of state consumer protection laws, a penalty Meta will appeal. The ruling is the largest ever imposed on the company. The fine stems from New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez declining to join an $18 billion multistate settlement. Judge Francis J. Mathew ruled that Meta’s willful deception of users since 2010 warranted the maximum penalty, citing evidence that leadership, including Mark Zuckerberg, knew of misleading practices. New Mexico had sought up to $40 billion, arguing the entire state’s population was harmed. The judge noted the violations involved repeated misrepresentations over 11 years about data control, misinformation, and hate speech, not isolated incidents.