The NewYorkTimes.com reported that the “A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion on Wednesday for deceiving users about its data privacy practices, one of the largest penalties levied against a tech giant.” The October 21, 2026 article entitled “Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion for Deceiving Users on Privacy” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/technology/meta-penalty-new-mexico.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share) included these comments from Reporters Eli Tan and Cecilia Kang:
New Mexico sued Meta in 2021 over a scandal involving the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, saying the social media company had misled users with its public statements about their data privacy. Last month, after a two-week trial, a jury in the State District Court in Santa Fe ruled against Meta, saying the company had committed 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. Each violation carried a penalty of up to $5,000.
On Wednesday, Judge Francis J. Mathew of the State District Court in Santa Fe issued the landmark penalty.
The move was another blow to Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as it has racked up court losses over the harms that its social media platforms have caused users. States and consumers have filed thousands of lawsuits over issues such as how Facebook and Instagram endangered child safety, led to social media addiction, used people’s data without their consent and infringed on their privacy.
New Mexico has been leading the charge against Meta, and winning. In August, a New Mexico judge ordered the company to pay $567 million in damages after a jury ruled the company had enabled harm to young users, on top of a $375 million penalty from the same case in March.
In both cases, New Mexico accused Meta of violating state consumer protection laws, which have emerged as an unlikely and effective way to litigate tech companies that have been previously shielded by laws that protect free speech, said Vincent Joralemon, the director of the Life Sciences Law and Policy Center at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.
“The takeaway from this will be that consumer protection laws will be the way to hold tech companies accountable,” Mr. Joralemon said, adding that the penalty could inspire other states to pursue similar lawsuits.
The appeal will be interesting!
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