No Big Enough: A few weeks after a jury found Facebook liable in the Cambridge Analytica case, a judge in Santa Fe imposed an unprecedented fine on its parent company. Meta will, of course, appeal, while New Mexico's attorney general insists that no Big Tech company is too powerful to be held accountable.
Santa Fe District Court Judge Francis J. Mathew recently imposed a $25 billion fine on Meta, Facebook's parent company. The ruling follows a jury verdict in September that found the social network had deprived New Mexico residents of their privacy and their right to know how major technology companies use their personal data.
According to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, the massive $25 billion civil penalty represents a "historic financial victory" for the state. New Mexico's authorities sued Meta over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, one of the most significant privacy controversies in modern internet history. The British consulting firm has long since gone bankrupt, but the fallout from the scandal continues to create major legal headaches for Meta.
A month ago, the jury found that Facebook had violated New Mexico's consumer protection laws more than 43 million times. The company allegedly provided third-party apps with unlawful access to users' data, mishandled hate speech, and knowingly profited from misinformation.
Torrez said Judge Mathew's penalty order demonstrates that such violations can have serious financial consequences for businesses. The attorney general's office successfully took on one of the world's largest corporations, and the ruling underscores the principle that no company is too powerful to be held accountable under the law.
The size of the fine highlights the importance of state consumer protection laws as a means of holding technology companies accountable, according to Torrez's office. However, the financial consequences for Meta could have been even greater. The judge determined that the company could have faced a fine of as much as $219 billion under New Mexico law, while a local attorney had sought a penalty ranging from $35 billion to $40 billion.
Meta had asked the court to cap the fine at $3.45 billion. The judge ultimately imposed a penalty between the maximum amount allowed and the sum Meta had sought, although the ruling still represents a substantial financial hit for the company. Torrez said the outcome "reinforces a fundamental principle: companies that do business in our state must follow our laws and respect the rights of our people."
According to Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co., the New Mexico ruling carries a hefty price tag, but Meta remains a company valued at nearly $2 trillion. Meta, whose business relies heavily on digital advertising, warned that the verdict could significantly affect its ability to operate in New Mexico. The company has said it will appeal the ruling.