Meta Fined US$25 Billion in Privacy Case
Crhk · 2 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
A court in the US state of New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay US$25 billion in a data privacy lawsuit linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The case dates back to the period before Facebook's parent company was renamed Meta, when Facebook was accused of misleading users. According to the ruling described by local reports, Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained personal data from 87 million Facebook users and used it for political advertising that affected the 2016 US presidential election. Meta has said it will appeal the judgment and is confident it will win
Key Points
- The New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay US$25 billion over a lawsuit arising from the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.
- The events at issue occurred before Facebook's parent company changed its corporate name to Meta
- Facebook was accused of misleading users, enabling Cambridge Analytica to improperly access personal data from 87 million users
- The harvested data was allegedly used in political advertising connected to the 2016 US presidential election
- Meta had earlier joined a nationwide settlement worth nearly US$17 billion, but New Mexico did not participate in that agreement
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the case is a reminder that global technology platforms can still face massive legal exposure years after a privacy controversy first emerges. It also underlines how user-data handling, political advertising and cross-border regulation remain tightly linked issues for social media companies operating worldwide