Judge orders Meta to pay $25bn in fines for Facebook privacy violations

A United States judge has ordered Meta to pay $25bn after a jury found the company misled Facebook users about privacy violations, marking the biggest fine ever against the tech giant. New Mexico state District Judge Francis Mathew issued the ruling on Wednesday. “Facebook promised users that they (the users) controlled their data. This was false,” he said. Last month, a jury found Meta responsible for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez highlighted that the decision was one of the largest state verdicts against a company in US history. “This judgement should be a signal, an unambiguous message, to Silicon Valley,” Torrez said at a news conference.