Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been ordered to pay $25 billion in a New Mexico case stemming from allegations that Cambridge Analytica harvested personal data from millions of Facebook users without their consent for voter profiling linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. A jury found that Meta misled consumers about its data privacy practices, prompting the judge to impose the penalty.

New Mexico Attorney General Ral Torrez described the verdict as one of the largest single-state judgments against a company in US history.

In his order following the verdict, Judge Francis Mathew said the company’s alleged wrongdoing had continued for years and involved its core business practices.“Facebook's wrongdoing — over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public — goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices,” Mathew wrote.

The judge said a penalty exceeding $219 billion was warranted under state law but reduced the amount to $25 billion. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.HOW THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA CASE BEGANNew Mexico’s attorney general sued Meta in 2021 following revelations that Cambridge Analytica had harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party application.

The state accused Meta of misleading users about who could access their personal information, how it handled hate speech and misinformation, and other internal policies. It alleged that the company knew third parties had broad access to users’ data and tolerated harmful content when doing so benefited its business.

Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, worked for Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign.

The firm obtained personal information from millions of Facebook accounts for voter profiling and targeting. The data was allegedly collected without users’ consent through an application developed by a researcher who had been permitted to deploy it on Facebook.“It has been a long time coming holding Big Tech accountable,” Torrez told a news conference in Albuquerque after the ruling.

He described the judgment as a warning to technology companies and others that his office intended to protect consumers.JURY FOUND 43 MILLION CONSUMER LAW VIOLATIONSOn September 25, a jury found that 26 of 29 statements made by Meta and its leadership on the issues were misleading.

Jurors concluded that the company had committed more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. The count was based on the number of Facebook users or New Mexico residents who were exposed to each misleading statement.

State law allows penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, with the money directed to New Mexico’s school system, Torrez said.

At a hearing on October 1, Randi McGinn, a lawyer representing New Mexico, asked the judge to impose a penalty of between $35 billion and $40 billion. She argued that the amount was consistent with constitutional due process protections and the jury’s findings.“This court should speak to Meta in the only language it understands, which is money, and the value of its stock price,” McGinn said.

Meta had urged the judge to cap the penalties at $3.45 billion, arguing that a higher amount risked discouraging businesses from operating in the state. The company also argued that it did not sell users’ data and that the state had not proved any consumer was actually misled.META FACES OTHER CASES OVER USER SAFETYThe New Mexico verdict follows a separate case in which six other states settled lawsuits related to Cambridge Analytica for $459.2 million.

Those settlements formed part of a $17.1 billion multistate agreement Meta reached in August to resolve claims that its platforms had harmed teenagers’ mental health. The New Mexico verdict was the second in six months against Meta in a lawsuit brought by the state.

In March, a Santa Fe jury found that Meta had misled users about the safety of young people on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties. After a second phase of that trial, a judge directed Meta to pay another $567 million into a New Mexico fund for teen mental health. The company was also ordered to implement measures to protect teenage users of Facebook and Instagram in the state.

Technology analyst Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson & Co., described the latest ruling as costly but said Meta was likely to appeal.“Having said that, Meta is worth nearly two trillion dollars, and will likely continue to appeal these cases and drag them out,” Luria said. He added that the cases were unlikely to have a material impact on the company’s value in the near term.- EndsWith inputs from Reuters