A federal judge in New Mexico has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay a $25 billion civil penalty for mishandling users’ data and repeatedly making misleading statements about its practices.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, US District Judge Francis Mathew reduced the penalty from the $219.5 billion initially calculated following a jury verdict, while acknowledging that the maximum fine permitted under state law could have been nearly 10 times higher than the amount ultimately imposed.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by New Mexico in 2021 over Meta’s handling of user data and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which came to light in 2018.

During a trial in September, a jury found Meta liable for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act. The law allows civil penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation.

In his ruling, Mathew said the scale and nature of the violations justified the highest level of penalties available under the law, although he ultimately set the fine at $25 billion.

The judge pointed to the extraordinary number of intentional violations, the duration of the conduct, the involvement of senior Facebook executives and the reach of the company’s services among New Mexico residents.

He also highlighted what he described as a systematic pattern of misleading statements by the company.

Mathew said interest would accrue on the penalty at an annual rate of 15% until the amount is paid in full.

The ruling also criticized Meta’s internal investigation into the Cambridge Analytica scandal, saying the company failed to conduct the comprehensive inquiry it had promised.

Instead, the judge described the investigation as “wilfully ineffective,” citing pressure from senior executives to limit costs, insufficient enforcement resources, inadequate investigative methods and a reluctance to establish precedents for future investigations.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal erupted in 2018 after reports revealed that personal information associated with millions of Facebook users had been obtained and used for political consulting without their informed consent.

The controversy triggered investigations, regulatory scrutiny and legal action over Facebook’s handling of personal information and its safeguards against misuse.

Meta previously reached an August settlement with a coalition of state attorneys general over other legal claims related to Cambridge Analytica. New Mexico was not included in that agreement.

The company has also faced separate litigation in New Mexico over child safety.

Earlier this year, a state jury found Meta liable for child-safety violations and imposed a $375 million penalty. A second phase of the proceedings resulted in an additional $567 million penalty after the jury determined that the company’s conduct had created a public nuisance.

Meta said it disagreed with the earlier child-safety ruling and would appeal.

The $25 billion penalty in the data-handling case represents another major legal challenge for the technology company, as authorities continue to scrutinize the responsibilities of social media platforms in protecting users’ personal information and preventing harm. (ILKHA)