Overview
- A Santa Fe jury found on Sept. 25 that Meta made 26 misleading public statements and committed more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act based on the size of audiences exposed to those statements.
- On Wednesday, Oct. 21, Judge Francis J. Mathew reduced a statutory total that exceeded $219 billion to a $25 billion civil penalty and ordered interest to run at 15% per year until the judgment is paid.
- New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the money will be directed to the state’s public school fund and the state is also seeking injunctions to curb the practices the trial identified.
- Meta says it disagrees with the verdict and has announced plans to appeal, making it likely the award will be litigated further and could be stayed, reduced, or otherwise changed on review.
- The ruling tests how state consumer‑protection law can be used to police platform conduct, raises constitutional and damages‑method questions about counting audience exposures as violations, and could shape future state enforcement of large tech companies.