N.M.Litigation

New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay $25 billion over Facebook privacy deception

By LexCircuit Desk · Oct. 21, 2026 · AI-drafted, human-reviewed

A New Mexico state judge on October 21, 2026, ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion after a Santa Fe jury found the company violated the state's Unfair Practices Act more than 43 million times. The attorney general's 2021 suit arose from the Cambridge Analytica data harvest and Meta's statements about user privacy and content moderation.

Filing (CNBC) → · NBC News (Reuters), TechCrunch

Key points

Judge Francis Mathew found a penalty of more than $219 billion warranted under state law but reduced it to $25 billion.NBC News (Reuters)CNBC
The jury reached its verdict in September after a two-week trial; each violation carried a penalty of up to $5,000.CNBC TechCrunch
Attorney General Raúl Torrez called it one of the largest, if not the largest, single-state verdicts against the company.NBC News (Reuters)
Meta chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the company is confident it will prevail on appeal.TechCrunch
The Federal Trade Commission fined Meta $5 billion in 2019 over the same scandal.NBC News (Reuters)

Sources3 articles across 3 outlets

CNBC
- Meta ordered to pay $25B in New Mexico Cambridge Analytica caseOct. 21, 2026
NBC News (Reuters)
- Meta ordered to pay $25 billion to New Mexico after jury finds company misled consumers about data privacyOct. 21, 2026
TechCrunch
- Meta ordered to pay $25 billion in case related to Cambridge Analytica scandalOct. 21, 2026

New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay $25 billion over Facebook privacy deception

Key points

Sources3 articles across 3 outlets

CNBC

NBC News (Reuters)

TechCrunch

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