US tech giant Meta, owner of Facebook, was ordered to pay $25 billion (around €22.5 billion) to the US state of New Mexico after a jury found Facebook deceived its users over privacy and content moderation.

"Facebook promised users that they (the users) controlled their data. This was false," Judge ⁠Francis ⁠Mathew wrote in his order following the Wednesday verdict.

The case links back to the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when a third-party quiz harvested the data of some 87 million Facebook profiles and sold it to the UK-based political consulting firm. The firm used the data for targeted ads, including campaign ads for Donald Trump's first presidential run. 

New Mexico rejects deal with Meta

Nearly all US states agreed to settle with Facebook over a myriad of legal issues for an overall payment of $18 billion in August. This included releasing the company from future liability for the Cambridge Analytica breach.

New Mexico refused to settle and filed a lawsuit against the platform.  Prosecutors claimed that the social network deceived the state's entire population of some 2.1 million people by its public statements on privacy. The US state also argued that Facebook allowed the spread of misinformation and violent content.

In turn, the company's lawyers said the state failed to prove people were actually harmed by Facebook's statements, and claimed the platform had robust content moderation.

In September, a jury found Facebook liable for over 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws. Meta pledged to "continue to defend ourselves against efforts to distort our record."

Meta's billions could go to New Mexico's education system

Following the jury's decision last month, it was up to the court to determine how much Meta would pay the state. While the $25 billion fine is lower than the $35 billion to $40 billion demanded by the New Mexico prosecutors, it far exceeds the cap of $3.45 billion suggested by Meta's lawyers.

"This court should speak to Meta in the only language it understands, which is ​money, and the value of its stock price," New Mexico attorney Randi McGinn said during the trial.

On Wednesday, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said the outcome should be "an unambiguous message" to Silicon Valley.

While noting that the money will likely be tied up due to appeals, Torrez also noted that the fine is legally due to be paid into New Mexico's education fund.

"We may have paid for the construction of schools for the next 100 years," he said.

The case is the latest in the string of legal challenges large social media companies face in the US and other parts of the world, including the separate August verdict in New Mexico ordering Facebook to pay $567 million over harm to children.

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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