Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion in Damages Over Data Misuse

A New Mexico judge on Wednesday ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion in damages. The court found that the company misled consumers in a case in which a political consulting firm associated with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign was accused of obtaining data on millions of Facebook users without their consent. The case is connected to the same case. Judge Francis Mathew wrote in his order that Facebook's mistakes continued for years and were systematically exposed to the public. This is at the heart of its core business practices. The penalty was more than $219 billion under state law, but he reduced it to $25 billion. A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, harvested the personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app. The state attorney general filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2021 following the revelation.