US Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion Fine to New Mexico

October 22 – According to Reuters, a judge in the US state of New Mexico ruled on Wednesday that Meta must pay a $25 billion fine to the state, with all funds to be directed to the state's school system under state law. A jury had previously found on September 25 that Meta and its management misled consumers on issues including user data privacy. The case stemmed from Cambridge Analytica obtaining data on as many as 87 million Facebook users through third-party apps. The jury found more than 43 million violations of the state's consumer protection law, which allows a maximum fine of $5,000 per violation. Meta had requested in court filings that the fine be capped at $3.45 billion. Separately, Meta is set to report earnings after 4:00 a.m. Beijing time on October 22.