Meta fined $25bn for 'lies' over user data privacy

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has been hit with the largest ever fine against it for its business practices.

A judge in New Mexico on Wednesday ordered the company to pay $25bn (£18.6bn) following a two week trial earlier this year that found it had spent years lying to the public about how it handled Facebook user data.

"The lies extend beyond Facebook's data practices as well," the judge said, adding they went to "the heart of Facebook's core business practices."

The fine is the largest to date against Meta, which has either been fined or agreed to settle several other lawsuits this year, including an $18bn deal with California over child safety.

The lawsuit stemmed from the role of Meta, then known as Facebook, in what became known as the Cambridge Analytica scandal. That firm used Facebook user information as part of its work in political consulting, including on work related to the 2016 US Presidential election, which saw Donald Trump elected for the first time.

Lawyers for New Mexcio sued the company over many statements Meta executives had made over the years that user data was never sold or shared with third parties, when in reality it had been.

Judge Francis Mathew on Wednesday was direct in his decision to fine Meta an amount roughly equal to its profits each quarter.

He said Meta's violations of law and misrepresentations to the public about how their Facebook data was used and shared were "willful" and spanned "more than 11 years," stretching from 2010 to 2021.

Communications between senior executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, were "designed to mislead the public," Judge Mathew wrote in his order.

While the full amount of the penalty against Meta, based on thousands of violations of state law, was calculated as $219bn, Judge Mathew reduced the penalty to the $25bn fine.

A spokesperson for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

New Mexico has been one of Meta's most notable adversaries in court. The state this year also fined Meta almost $1bn for misleading the public about the safety of its social media platforms for children.

The judge overseeing that lawsuit ultimately compared Meta to an industrial polluter of the air, with its form of pollution being "the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children."