In a case heard in the US state of New Mexico, a court has ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion penalty for violating consumer protection laws.
The decision by Judge Francis Mathew follows a jury's finding in September that the company was liable for misleading users about its privacy and content moderation policies. Meta is expected to appeal the ruling.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez stated in a press conference that the decision serves as a strong warning to technology companies, saying, "This decision should be a signal, a clear and unambiguous message to Silicon Valley."
Under the state constitution, fines resulting from violations of consumer protection laws are allocated to education expenditures. Torrez said the penalty is large enough to fund the construction of schools in New Mexico for the next 100 years; however, he acknowledged that the money might not be available in the short term due to Meta's likely appeal.
The case is reportedly based on allegations of a data breach linked to the collection of profile information belonging to approximately 87 million Facebook users, which was gathered through a third-party personality test app and sold to the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
During the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it was revealed that data collected through an app called "this is your digital life" was used for political purposes during the 2016 US presidential election process. Following the scandal, Facebook's then-CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the US Senate.
The ruling has been recorded as the largest monetary penalty ever issued against Meta, the owner of Facebook.
News Source: 12punto
