--- title: "Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion in New Mexico" canonical: "https://thestockmemo.com/article/meta-ordered-to-pay-25-billion-in-new-mexico" markdown: "https://thestockmemo.com/article/meta-ordered-to-pay-25-billion-in-new-mexico.md" type: article published: "2026-10-22T06:45:46.418206+00:00" updated: "2026-10-22T06:45:46.418206+00:00" company: "Meta Platforms Inc" ticker: "META" isin: "US30303M1027" price_as_of: "2026-10-27T11:00:47.412+00:00" image: "https://thestockmemo.com/media/3e82133a-557f-419c-9f84-e5a9fe0ce162.png" tags: - "Media & Entertainment" - "Regulation" - "United States" --- # Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion in New Mexico > A New Mexico state court judge ordered the company to pay a civil penalty over deceiving users about privacy on Facebook. A New Mexico state court judge ordered Meta Platforms Inc to pay a $25 billion civil penalty for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook. The penalty follows a jury verdict finding more than 43 million violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. ## Key figures | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Company | Meta Platforms Inc | | Ticker | META · NASDAQ | | ISIN | US30303M1027 | | Sector | Internet | | Price | $629.25 | | Price target | $844.26 | | Upside | +34.2% | | Fair Value | $850.00 | | Rating | Buy | | Sentiment | Positive | ## What happened A New Mexico state court judge ordered Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) to pay a $25 billion civil penalty for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook. The order came in the state's Cambridge Analytica case and covers violations of New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act, according to Attorney General Raúl Torrez. The penalty follows a jury verdict reached on September 25, 2026, when jurors found Meta had committed more than 43 million violations of the law. They based that finding on 26 statements by executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, about how Facebook handled user data and hate speech. Judge Francis Mathew addressed the core privacy promise directly. "Facebook promised users that they (the users) controlled their data. This was false," he said. He also said Meta's misrepresentations to the public were "willful" and spanned "more than 11 years," from 2010 to 2021. ## Why it matters Judge Francis J. Mathew found that Facebook's deception was intentional and that executives consistently misled users about how the platform worked. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the penalty "one of the single largest, if not the largest, single-state verdict against a company in American history." Meta's chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said in a statement that "we are confident we will prevail on appeal." He said the ruling makes it "all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico" and called it a lawsuit that "seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online." State law directs that all penalty money collected under the statute go to New Mexico's school system, according to Torrez. The judge called the deception intentional, and Meta has said it expects to win on appeal, so this ruling may not be the final word on the penalty. ## By the numbers Judge Mathew first calculated the maximum the statute allowed: $219.5 billion, based on the state's maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation across 43,899,720 violations. He then reduced the award to $25 billion. The $25 billion penalty will accrue interest at an annual rate of 15% until it is fully paid. New Mexico had asked for a penalty of no less than $40 billion, or 2% of Meta's $1.7 trillion market capitalization. Meta shares traded up 1.8% at 2:45 p.m. in New York on October 21, 2026, after rising as much as 2.7% earlier in the day. The stock stood at $707.18 as of October 21, 2026. Analysts' average price target was $808.88, with a consensus rating of buy, as of October 21, 2026. Fair value was $609.84 as of October 21, 2026. ## What to watch The New Mexico penalty decision came down hours before Meta was scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results. That timing could put the order next to those results. --- ## Legal notices The content on The Stock Memo is general information only. It is not investment advice, a research report prepared for you, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Frontier Media Inc. is not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Investing in securities can result in a total loss of the money you put in. Past prices and past results are not a reliable guide to the future. 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