Meta ordered to pay $25 billion in privacy case, RT reports

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties on October 21 over findings that Facebook misled users about the privacy of their personal information, RT reported. The ruling follows a September jury verdict holding the company responsible for nearly 44 million violations of the state’s consumer-protection laws.

Meta denies misleading users and plans to appeal, arguing that the penalty is unconstitutional. The account below rests on the outlet’s reporting; BharatVox has not independently reviewed the judgment.

Judge reduces calculated penalty

District Judge Francis Mathew concluded that the conduct justified a penalty of more than $219 billion under state law, but set the amount at $25 billion. His order characterised the wrongdoing as systematic, extending over years and touching Facebook’s central business practices.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez welcomed the judgment, describing it as a demonstration that large technology companies remain answerable to consumer-protection law.

In responding to the jury verdict in September, Meta also raised a free-speech argument, pointing to Facebook’s role as a platform for expression. Its intended appeal means the company is contesting the penalty rather than accepting the judgment.

The data collection behind the case

The dispute stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which became public in 2018. The British political consultancy obtained personal information associated with as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent, according to the report.

A third-party personality quiz collected information through a Facebook feature that allowed access to data belonging to participants’ friends. Cambridge Analytica used the resulting information to build psychological voter profiles and target political advertisements, including during the 2016 US presidential election.

Cambridge Analytica was created in 2013 as the American political-data operation of Britain’s SCL Group, a contractor specialising in behavioural research, profiling and strategic communications. The consultancy collapsed in 2018 as scrutiny of its activities intensified, while Facebook faced investigations, litigation and financial penalties.