25 billion US dollars fine for Meta
The 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal is catching up with Mark Zuckerberg eight years later. A court in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay a fine that would eat up almost half of its annual profit.
Meta has been ordered to pay a $25 billion fine in the US state of New Mexico. A judge sentenced the corporation for deceiving users in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In that case, data from millions of Facebook profiles was misused to influence potential Trump voters with targeted messages.
A jury had determined in September that Meta had violated New Mexico's consumer protection law more than 43 million times. Specifically, the company misled its customers regarding how it protects user data and prevents misinformation and hate speech on the platform. The law allows for up to $5,000 per violation. Theoretically, this could have resulted in over $219 billion. The judge set the amount at $25 billion. The money is to go entirely to the state's school system.
Meta: «Tax on free speech»
Meta rejects the allegations. The company intends to appeal. Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney calls it a «tax on free speech» that makes doing business in New Mexico «nearly impossible». New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, on the other hand, emphasizes that the case shows that no company is «too powerful to be held accountable».
The verdict is part of a series of expensive legal proceedings. In an earlier trial in New Mexico, Meta had already been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion due to risks to children. Separately, the company reached a settlement of around $18 billion with a group of US states regarding youth protection issues.
If the fine is not overturned by the appellate court, it would not pose an existential risk to Meta, but it would certainly be painful. It corresponds to about 40 percent of the 2025 annual profit, which amounted to $60.5 billion. In the third quarter of 2026, the company generated $64.6 billion in revenue and achieved a net profit of $9.86 billion.
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