Meta's biggest US fine ever lands as $25 billion bill from New Mexico

Judge Francis Mathew in New Mexico ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to pay $25 billion this week. The sum represents the largest financial penalty the social media giant has ever faced in a US court. The ruling concludes a long legal battle over how the company handled user information.

The state initially filed the lawsuit in 2021. It alleged that Meta violated the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act by misleading residents about their data. The dispute originated from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The attorney general later expanded the claims to include the company's content moderation policies. A jury sided with the state in September, leading to the multibillion dollar verdict.

Meta intends to challenge the decision on appeal. C.J. Mahoney, the company's chief legal officer, argued that the ruling makes it nearly impossible to operate in New Mexico. He characterized the lawsuit as an effort to impose a tax on speech. Mahoney stated the company is confident it will win the appeal.

This verdict is one of several major legal losses for Meta in 2026. A separate New Mexico jury ordered the company to pay $375 million for violating the same consumer protection law in a trial focused on child safety. A second phase of that case resulted in a $567 million order. In Los Angeles, a superior court found Meta and Google-owned YouTube liable for harming a young woman's mental health through addictive design, awarding her $6 million. Meta also agreed in August to pay between $17 billion and $18 billion over 10 years to settle a federal case regarding features that allegedly harmed children.

The $25 billion figure is less than the $35 billion to $45 billion requested by New Mexico attorneys. The maximum possible penalty was $219 billion, calculated at $5,000 for each of the 43 million violations found by the jury. The judge reduced the amount to $25 billion. Despite the size of the fine, Meta's market value remains around $1.7 trillion.

Legal experts suggest that financial penalties alone may not force operational changes. Corban Rhodes, a partner at the law firm representing New Mexico, noted that public trial records now include more than 100 exhibits that had remained secret for over a decade. One document is a 2018 email from then-COO Sheryl Sandberg. She warned that millions of developers had access to the data and predicted more similar incidents would occur.

Pressure may also come from insurers and shareholders. A Delaware judge ruled in March that insurers have no duty to defend Meta against its many lawsuits. Brian Quinn, a law professor at Boston College, said shareholders might eventually target individual directors rather than the company as a whole. If executives keep appearing in similar cases, shareholders could demand changes to indemnification rules, leaving leaders less protected.