Meta Faces a $25 Billion Fine
The decision was made after a jury found Meta liable for violating the state's consumer protection laws in September.
A court in the U.S. state of New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion fine for allegedly misleading users about its privacy and content moderation policies.
The decision followed a September jury verdict finding Meta liable for violating the state's consumer protection laws.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said the ruling should send a clear message to technology companies in Silicon Valley. According to him, the funds collected from the fine could be used to finance school construction and education expenses across the state. However, Meta is expected to appeal the decision.
The lawsuit is linked to a scandal involving the unauthorized collection of Facebook users' data. Information belonging to approximately 87 million users was obtained through a personality quiz application and transferred to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
In 2016, Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan sold data collected through the application to Cambridge Analytica. Subsequent reports indicated that the company used this information during Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.
After the scandal became public, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Senate. The incident intensified discussions about how technology companies collect and protect users' personal information.