New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion in Historic Privacy Case
Category: Business & Tech | Date: October 21, 2026 Sources: Reuters | USA Today | Wall Street Journal A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion to the state after a jury found the company misled consumers about its data privacy practices — one of the largest verdicts in American legal history. The case traces back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consulting firm involved in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party personality quiz app, without their consent. How the Penalty Was Calculated Judge Francis Mathew of the Santa Fe State District Court issued the ruling on Wednesday, weeks after a jury found Meta liable for violating New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act. The jury determined Meta committed approximately 43-44 million violations tied to deceptive public statements made over more than a decade — including statements by CEO Mark Zuc...