Meta ordered to pay $25 billion in penalties over the Cambridge Analytica scandal

Summary

The Cambridge Analytica scandal has come back to haunt Meta after a New Mexico judge ordered it to pay $25billioninpenaltiesformorethan43millionviolationsofthestate’sunfairpracticeslaw.TherulingmarksthebiggestlegalhitMetahastakenthisyear,evenasit’sfacedseveralotherlossesorsettlements.Metaorderedtopay$25 billion in penalties over the Cambridge Analytica scandal It’s significantly more than it agreed to pay in a recent kids online safety settlement. It’s significantly more than it agreed to pay in a recent kids online safety settlement. A New Mexico jury ruled in September that Meta misled consumers over how it protected their data and prevented misinformation and hate speech on its platforms. The case stemmed from a 2021 complaint in the wake of the revelations a few years earlier that UK political consultancy Cambridge Analytica harvested data from millions of Facebook accounts to pinpoint messages that would resonate with voters leading up to President Donald Trump’s first election. The judge found that the “extraordinary number of willful violations found by the jury, the duration and repetition of the conduct, the breadth of subjects on which violations occurred, the involvement of senior Facebook leadership,” and other factors justified the highest penalty allowed under the law, at $5,000perviolation.Thatbringsthetotalcivilpenaltiestomorethan$219 billion, but the judge reduced it to $25billion.“Thisruling,andtheAttorneyGeneral’sapproachtothisenforcement,makesitallbutimpossibletodobusinessinthestateofNewMexico,”Meta’schieflegalofficerC.J.Mahoneysaidinastatement.“Atitscore,thislawsuitseekstoimposeataxonspeechtoenforcenewrulesforwhatpeoplecansayonline.Weareconfidentwewillprevailonappeal.”“NewMexicostooditsground”Eventhissmallersumis“oneofthelargestfinancialpenaltiesagainstacorporationinU.S.history,”accordingtotheAG’soffice,anddwarfsotherrecentrulingsandsettlementsinvolvingMeta.InanotherlandmarkrulinginNewMexicostatecourt,Metawasorderedtopayatotalof[nearly$1 billion](/tech/976537/meta-new-mexico-cild-safety-fine-public-nuisance) in civil penalties and abatement for misleading the public about the safety of its products. In a separate agreement with most other state AGs, Meta settled an array of kids online safety complaints for $17.1billion—but$5.3 billion of that is contingent on YouTube and TikTok installing similar measures. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez issued a triumphant statement after the latest in his string of wins against Meta (though the company managed to fight off many of the business changes the AG asked for in the remedies portion of the kids online safety case). “This case has always been about more than one company or one scandal,” Torrez said. “It is about whether corporations can mislead consumers about what happens to their personal information without facing meaningful consequences. New Mexico stood its ground, took this case to trial, and secured a verdict establishing millions of violations of our law.” Update, October 21st: Added statement from Meta.

By Lauren Feiner

Original Article