A judge in New Mexico has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to pay a civil fine of $25 billion, one of the largest penalties ever imposed on a technology company.
The fine follows a jury verdict that found Meta misled users about how it collects personal information, how it protects that information, and how it enforces its content policies.
The case is tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which came to light in 2018. In that affair, personal data from approximately 87 million Facebook accounts was harvested without proper consent and used for political advertising. The jury determined that Meta violated the state's consumer protection laws in more than 43 million instances.
The final penalty was reduced from an initial figure of approximately $219.5 billion. Meta has rejected the claims against it and announced it will appeal the decision. If the fine stands, the funds are earmarked for New Mexico's education system.
The penalty comes against a company that reported annual revenues of approximately $201 billion in 2025, alongside a net profit of around $60.5 billion. The fine represents roughly 12% of Meta's annual revenues, or about 41% of its net profit for that year, if it is upheld in full.
