US Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion in Privacy Case

By Staff, Agencies

A US judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties for misleading Facebook users about the privacy of their personal data, following a landmark ruling stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

New Mexico District Judge Francis Mathew issued the order on Wednesday after a jury found in September that Facebook’s parent company was responsible for nearly 44 million violations of the state’s consumer protection laws.

Mathew concluded that the misconduct warranted penalties exceeding $219 billion under state law but reduced the amount to $25 billion, making the ruling one of the largest financial penalties ever imposed on a US corporation.

“Facebook’s wrongdoing, over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public, goes to the heart of Facebook’s core business practices,” Mathew wrote in his order.

The case stems from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which revealed that the British political consulting firm had obtained personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent.

The data was collected through a third-party personality quiz application that exploited Facebook’s system for accessing information about users’ friends.

Cambridge Analytica used the information to build psychological profiles of voters and deliver targeted political advertisements, including during the 2016 US presidential election.

Established in 2013 as the American political-data arm of Britain’s SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica specialized in behavioral influence, psychological profiling and strategic communications.

SCL also marketed influence and research services to defense clients, including the UK Defense Ministry.

The scandal also brought attention to connections involving Palantir Technologies, a data-analysis company with extensive contracts involving US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon.

A 2018 New York Times investigation reported that at least one Palantir employee advised Cambridge Analytica researchers during their 2014 efforts to obtain Facebook user data. Palantir denied having a formal business relationship with the firm, saying the employee had acted in a personal capacity.

Cambridge Analytica collapsed in 2018 amid international scrutiny, while Facebook faced regulatory investigations, lawsuits and substantial financial penalties.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez welcomed the latest ruling, describing it as a warning that even the largest technology companies could be held accountable for violating consumer protection laws.

Meta has denied misleading users and said it plans to appeal, arguing that the unprecedented penalty is unconstitutional.

Following the jury’s verdict in September, the company also invoked freedom of speech, maintaining that Facebook serves as a forum for free expression.