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Thursday, October 22, 2026

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Courts · Thursday, October 22, 2026

New Mexico says Facebook must pay a $25 billion penalty

The File desk · Oct. 22, 2026, 6:40 a.m. ET

Confirmed2 primary sources

Status

Confirmed as the New Mexico attorney general's account, posted Oct. 21, 2026, of a jury verdict and a court order. The $25 billion figure and the violation count are the office's. Meta's response was not obtained. This case is not the teen-safety settlement in Meta's earnings filing.
  • Confirmed
    Attorney General Raúl Torrez said a jury found 43,899,725 violations of the and that a court ordered Facebook to pay $25 billion in civil penalties.
  • Confirmed
    Meta's Oct. 21 earnings filing does not mention New Mexico or this penalty. The two matters are reported separately.
New Mexico's attorney general said Wednesday that a court ordered Facebook to pay $25 billion in civil penalties. He said a jury found 43,899,725 violations of the in a privacy case tied to Cambridge Analytica. Meta's response was not obtained.1
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said, “Today’s result makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.” The office describes a jury verdict and a court order to pay. The judgment document linked from the release was not opened, so this story does not add a figure from that file. The claims in the case are the state's account of a completed trial.1
Meta's earnings release the same day books a $9.89 billion charge for an August agreement with 52 attorneys general over teen mental health. That filing does not mention New Mexico or a $25 billion penalty. This story does not treat the two as the same case.2
Why it matters (Estimate). Estimate. A $25 billion civil penalty, if it stands, would be money a state says a company owes for privacy violations, separate from the teen-safety payments Meta already put in its quarterly books. People who used Facebook in that earlier period are the ones the state says were affected. Whether Meta will pay, appeal, or settle further is not in the release.
The New Mexico release is dated Oct. 21, 2026 and it names the .
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.New Mexico Department of Justice, Oct. 21, 2026. https://nmdoj.gov/press-release/the-new-mexico-department-of-justice-secures-another-landmark-victory-against-big-tech-with-historic-25-billion-penalty-against-facebook/ The office says a jury found Facebook committed 43,899,725 violations of the and that a court ordered Facebook to pay $25 billion in civil penalties. Raúl Torrez: “Today’s result makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.” The case described is the Cambridge Analytica privacy litigation, not the teen mental-health settlement. The judgment PDF linked from the page was not opened.
  2. 2.Meta Platforms, Exhibit 99.1, Oct. 21, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000162828026066700/meta-09302026xexhibit991.htm The filing includes a $9.89 billion charge for an August agreement with 52 attorneys general over teen mental health. A text search of the exhibit found no mention of New Mexico or a $25 billion penalty.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Meta's response. Not obtained.
  • Whether the judgment has been entered in the form the attorney general describes. The linked judgment file was not opened.
  • How the penalty would be paid, and on what schedule.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    New Mexico announcement of a $25 billion penalty

    New Mexico Department of Justice · October 21, 2026

    The office says a jury found 43,899,725 violations and a court ordered Facebook to pay $25 billion in civil penalties.

    https://nmdoj.gov/press-release/the-new-mexico-department-of-justice-secures-another-landmark-victory-against-big-tech-with-historic-25-billion-penalty-against-facebook/

  2. Source 2

    Meta third-quarter exhibit, for the separate charge

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · October 21, 2026

    Meta's earnings exhibit does not mention New Mexico or a $25 billion penalty.

    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000162828026066700/meta-09302026xexhibit991.htm

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