Meta hit with $25 billion New Mexico fine, its largest ever

The ruling

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion fine for violating consumer protection laws dating back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal ^[1]. It is the largest fine Meta has ever faced ^[1].

New Mexico filed its suit in 2021, alleging Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act by lying to users about how it handled their data ^[1]. The attorney general later made claims against Meta's content moderation policies ^[1]. In September, a jury ruled in favor of the state ^[1].

How the number was reached

In the most recent trial, the state's attorneys originally asked Judge Francis Mathew to award between $35 and $45 billion, according to Reuters ^[1]. The maximum possible penalty was $219 billion, calculated as $5,000 across 43 million violations ^[1]. The judge reduced that figure to $25 billion ^[1].

As of writing, Meta is worth around $1.7 trillion ^[1]. Meta's stock fell on a Thursday due to a combination of factors, including its Wednesday earnings report, massive AI capital expenditures, and AI stocks dragging the overall market ^[1].

Meta's response

Meta's chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the ruling and the Attorney General's enforcement approach make it all but impossible to do business in New Mexico ^[1]. Mahoney said the lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online ^[1]. Meta said it is confident it will prevail on appeal ^[1].

What the trial put on the record

Corban Rhodes of DiCello Levitt, which represented New Mexico, said the trial placed more than 100 exhibits into the public record, including material kept secret for more than a decade since Cambridge Analytica ^[1]. One is a 2018 email from then-COO Sheryl Sandberg, sent days after the scandal broke, which said there were a million developers with access to the data ^[1].

Other cases against Meta

Earlier in 2026, a New Mexico jury ruled that Meta should pay $375 million for violating the state's Unfair Practices Act in a trial related to child safety ^[1]. A second phase of the New Mexico case resulted in Meta being ordered to pay $567 million ^[1].

A Los Angeles County superior court found Meta and Google-owned YouTube liable for harming a user's mental health with the addictive design features of their apps ^[1]. The young woman plaintiff was awarded $6 million, with Meta on the hook for the bulk of it ^[1].

In August, Meta settled a federal case brought by the majority of US states over addictive features in its apps that were alleged to be harmful to kids ^[1]. That deal was with 51 state and territory attorneys general, over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately engineered to addict children ^[2]. The guaranteed portion is about 6 percent of one year's revenue, paid across a decade ^[2]. Meta generated nearly $201 billion in revenue in 2025 and earned more than $60 billion in net income ^[2].

The settlement includes usage limits, nighttime restrictions, reduced notifications during school hours, and additional parental controls ^[2]. Meta denied wrongdoing and admitted none ^[2].

Insurance and what comes next

In March, a Delaware judge ruled that insurers do not have a duty to defend Meta against the thousands of lawsuits being brought against it ^[1]. Brian Quinn, a Boston College Law School professor, said a finding that a person violated a law does not necessarily make that person liable under current indemnification law ^[1]. He said angry shareholders might ask that the corporation no longer indemnify its directors, which would leave Meta's executives less protected ^[1].

Rhodes said he expects the next wave of litigation against tech companies to focus on AI ^[1].