Judge Orders Meta to Pay New Mexico $25 Billion Over Misleading Users on Data Privacy
The state judge cut a theoretical $219 billion tally to $25 billion for 43 million violations, with 15 percent interest running while Meta appeals the largest penalty it has faced.
Outspoken Digest Technology Desk
Thursday, October 22, 2026/2 min read
A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion for misleading users about how Facebook handled their data. TechCrunch calls it the largest payout Meta has faced. The company says it will appeal.
Judge Francis Mathew issued the order on Wednesday, 21 October, according to the ABC. It follows a jury verdict in September.
How did the penalty reach $25 billion?
A Santa Fe jury found Meta committed about 43 million violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. At the statutory maximum of $5,000 each, the total would have been roughly $219 billion, Engadget reports. The state had asked for between $35 billion and $40 billion, while Meta wanted no more than $3.45 billion.
The judge landed on $25 billion, which Engadget says is directed to New Mexico's school system. Interest will run at 15 percent a year until the penalty is paid in full.
What did the jury and judge find?
Jurors found Meta liable for misleading public statements about how it handled personal data. Part of the case concerned a third-party app tied to the Cambridge Analytica data breach. Jurors did not find that the state had proved false claims about removing harmful content, including Covid-19 misinformation, the ABC reports.
Judge Mathew found the deception was intentional. He wrote that Facebook promised users they controlled their data and that this was false, the ABC says. The state filed the lawsuit in 2021, per Engadget, and TechCrunch says the verdict came after a two-week trial. Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy behind the original scandal, grew out of a British defence contractor, SLC Group, and worked with the Trump campaign in 2016. The scandal itself is nearly a decade old, Engadget notes.
What does Meta say?
Chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the case seeks to impose "a tax on speech" and that Meta is confident it will prevail on appeal. He added that the ruling and the state's enforcement approach make it all but impossible to do business in New Mexico, according to the ABC.
Attorney General Raul Torrez said the judgment should send an unambiguous message to Silicon Valley. At a press conference he said the money could have paid for the construction of schools for the next 100 years, TechCrunch reports.
What happens next?
Years may pass before New Mexico sees any of the money, because the appeal comes first. Engadget notes that Meta settled with nearly all other states over child safety claims, including about $459 million tied to Cambridge Analytica claims, but New Mexico did not join that settlement.
The appeal will test whether a penalty set near a ninth of the statutory maximum survives, and whether other states look at New Mexico's route as a template.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
Editorial desk
Outspoken Digest Technology DeskSoftware, hardware, artificial intelligence and what they change for everyone else.
Newsletter
The Digest, in your inbox
One edition, sent when it is ready. No noise, and your address is never passed on.
Read Next
More Technology →
Astronauts Install the Space Station's Eighth and Final Roll-Out Solar Array in a 7-Hour Spacewalk
Nov 6, 2026/2 min read
Zipline Raises $1.5 Billion at a $21.5 Billion Valuation as Walmart Commits to 300 More Drone Delivery Sites
Nov 6, 2026/2 min read
After the Ballot Rebuke, OpenAI Promises to Pay Full Power Costs and Drop NDAs, and Meta Admits Building Will Get Harder
Nov 6, 2026/2 min read
A Digital Twin of the Webb Telescope Pulls a Hidden Planet Out of Old Data and Makes JWST Up to 15 Times Sharper
Nov 5, 2026/3 min read