Accra:New Mexico A US judge has mandated Meta to pay $25 billion in penalties over the handling of Facebook user data. This decision involves the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and dates back nearly a decade, as announced by the New Mexico Department of Justice.

According to Anadolu Agency – English, the ruling follows a jury verdict in New Mexico from September, which found Meta liable for over 43 million violations of the state's consumer protection law. The case is linked to the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, where personal data of approximately 87 million Facebook users was improperly accessed.

New Mexico District Court Judge Francis Mathew described the violations as willful and systematic, noting that Facebook made repeated misleading statements, with senior company executives involved. The judge reduced an initial assessment of $219.5 billion to $25 billion and imposed a 15% annual interest until the penalty is fully paid.

The New Mexico Department of Justice highlighted that the case went beyond just the Cambridge Analytica incident, addressing Facebook's claims about its data practices and efforts to combat misinformation and hate speech. The trial scrutinized statements regarding user privacy, third-party access to personal data, and the management of harmful content.

Rather than participating in a multistate settlement, New Mexico chose to pursue the litigation independently. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez remarked that this outcome demonstrates that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.