Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion to New Mexico for Misleading Consumers About Data Privacy
Updated on: October 21, 2026 / 3:52 PM EDT / CBS News
TL;DR
- Meta ordered to pay $25 billion to New Mexico for misleading consumers about data privacy.
- Jury found Facebook made false or misleading statements about user control of data and sharing with advertisers.
- The verdict is considered one of the largest state verdicts against a company in American history.
- The case is linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving harvested user data for targeted ads.
- Meta's leadership, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, were implicated in the misrepresentations.
- New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez stated the judgment sends an unambiguous message to Silicon Valley.
- Meta plans to appeal, with the company's Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney confident of prevailing.
- Fines for consumer protection violations in New Mexico are allocated to state education spending.
- Meta argued that the award violates due process and is unconstitutional.
- This is separate from a $5 billion FTC fine Facebook received in 2019 for its role in the Cambridge Analytica data collection.