New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion Over Cambridge Analytica Privacy Case

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion in penalties on Wednesday, October 21, after a jury found the company had misled consumers about the privacy of their data on Facebook in a case rooted in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ruling by the Santa Fe judge came roughly a decade after Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, improperly accessed Facebook user data, and follows a 2021 lawsuit brought by the state of New Mexico alleging Meta violated consumer protection laws.

The jury had previously found Meta liable for deceiving users about data privacy, access, and content policies, determining the company violated state consumer protection laws more than 43 million times. New Mexico had sought a penalty in the range of $35 billion to $40 billion, while Meta had argued penalties should be capped at approximately $3.45 billion. The judge's $25 billion award falls between those two positions and represents one of the largest data privacy penalties ever levied against a technology company.

The ruling marks a significant escalation in legal exposure for Meta, which separately agreed in August 2026 to pay up to $18 billion to settle a multistate lawsuit over child safety issues. Meta is expected to appeal the New Mexico penalty.