Judge orders Meta to pay $25bn in fines for Facebook privacy violations

A jury found Meta guilty of lying to Facebook users in ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Mexico about access to their data.Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026A United States judge has ordered Meta to pay $25bn after a jury found the company misled Facebook users about privacy violations, marking the biggest fine ever against the tech giant.New Mexico state District Judge Francis Mathew issued the ruling on Wednesday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Mexico to force Meta, TikTok, and X to better protect minors on platformlist 2 of 3Meta employees say Lula’s accounts restricted in Brazil election: Reportlist 3 of 3Why social media has become an election issue in Brazil’s presidential raceend of list“Facebook promised users that they (the users) controlled their data. This was false,” he said.Last month, a jury found Meta responsible for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez highlighted that the decision was one of the largest state verdicts against a company in US history.“This judgement should be a signal, an unambiguous message, to Silicon Valley,” Torrez said at a news conference.New Mexico Attorney General Raul Tor...