Meta ordered to pay $25 billion fine in Cambridge Analytica case

What the court punished Meta for

A jury in the Santa Fe court found in September that Meta misled New Mexico residents about data protection and countering harmful content. The jury identified over 43 million violations of the state's unfair practices law. Each of them carried a penalty of up to $5,000.

Judge Francis Mathew therefore calculated $219.5 billion, then reduced the amount to $25 billion. In his reasoning, he cited the "extraordinary number of willful violations," the duration and repetitiveness of the conduct, the broad subject matter, the involvement of Facebook's leadership, and the reach in New Mexico. Interest at 15 percent per year is to accrue on the penalty amount until full payment.

The judge also stated that Facebook did not conduct a comprehensive investigation, which it had promised after the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light. Pressure to cut costs and a lack of resources led to a "willfully ineffective" internal investigation.

The case concerned partly an external app linked to the Cambridge Analytica leak, and partly privacy policies and anti-disinformation efforts. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, and the case was led by current Attorney General Raúl Torrez.

Meta responds and announces appeal

C.J. Mahoney, Meta's chief legal officer, left no doubt about what he thinks of Wednesday's ruling. "This ruling and the attorney general's approach to law enforcement effectively make it impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico," he stated.

Mahoney went further, calling the lawsuit an attempt to impose a "speech tax." "At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a speech tax to enforce new rules about what people can say online. We are confident we will win on appeal," he added.

The state attorney general's office calls the amount "one of the largest financial penalties imposed on a corporation in U.S. history." Raúl Torrez speaks of "real consequences" for tech companies that, in his view, have for too long acted as if their size and influence placed them above the law.

For comparison: in a separate case concerning child safety in New Mexico, Meta is to pay nearly $1 billion in penalties and remedial measures, and it settled with most other states for $17.1 billion.

Sources

• TechCrunch: Meta ordered to pay $25 billion in case related to Cambridge Analytica scandal
• CNBC Technology: Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty in New Mexico Cambridge Analytica case
• The Verge - Tech: Meta ordered to pay $25 billion in penalties over the Cambridge Analytica scandal

Article prepared with the help of artificial intelligence based on: TechCrunch, CNBC Technology, The Verge - Tech. Facts checked automatically against these sources. The Wiadomości PRO newsroom is responsible for this publication.