Meta ordered to pay New Mexico $US25 billion for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook

A judge has ordered Meta to pay New Mexico $US25 billion ($35.6 billion) after a jury found the company liable for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook, marking the biggest fine ever against the tech giant.

The case was brought after political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica harvested Facebook data to generate targeted political ads during the 2016 election season.

Facebook’s deception was intentional and executives consistently misled users about how the platform worked, state District Court Judge Francis J Mathew wrote in his ruling on Wednesday local time. Jurors in September found Meta liable for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws for making misleading public statements about how it handled users’ personal data. Meta also reported on Wednesday better-than-expected quarterly revenue of $US64.6 billion ($92 billion), ahead of Wall Street estimates of $US63.37 billion ($90.32 billion).

In one of the tech giant’s few wins, jurors found that the state did not prove Facebook made false claims about removing harmful content, including misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. During a video deposition, Zuckerberg also denied the state’s claims that Facebook profited off harmful content. Attorneys for the company said it had changed its policies since the lawsuit was filed in 2021 and that it caught and removed an estimated 99 per cent of the content that violates its standards.