How many of you remember Meta’s privacy scandal with Cambridge Analytica? This case made the headlines nearly a decade ago, and you would think that we’d all have moved on from it since, right? Unfortunately, the law has a long memory and Meta is still suffering the consequences of it. Over in New Mexico, Meta has been ordered to pay 25 billion dollars over privacy-related misleading statements in the state.
Meta to pay $25 billion in privacy case in New Mexico
Now, it should be noted that New Mexico isn’t suing Meta over Cambridge Analytica. Instead, what they are suing over is Facebook’s statements about privacy made to the public. The state alleges that Meta had lied to Facebook users in New Mexico about who had access to their data.
As a result, it violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act. According to Judge Francis Mathew, “Facebook’s wrongdoing — over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public — goes to the heart of Facebook’s core business practices.”
According to the jury’s findings, Meta apparently had a staggering 43 million violations. At $5,000 per violation, the jury landed on a maximum penalty of $219 billion. However, the state later asked for $35 billion to $40 billion. Meta, unsurprisingly, disagreed and asked for $3.45 billion. However, the judge decided that $25 billion was a fair price to pay for the Meta privacy violations.
Meta plans to appeal
That being said, $25 billion is no small sum. As such, Meta plans to appeal and it makes sense. Meta could easily pay $25 billion, but it sets a precedent that the company most definitely wants to avoid. In fact, Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson & Co, thinks that this will unlikely have an impact on Meta’s value.
According to C.J. Mahoney, Meta’s chief legal officer, “This ruling, and the Attorney General’s approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico. At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online.” Mahoney also believes the company will win in its appeal.
We also shouldn’t expect to see this case resolved anytime soon either. Experts believe that with its resources, Meta will continue to appeal and drag it out.
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