Litigation News New Mexico state court •Published October 27, 2026

Meta Ordered to Pay $25 Billion in New Mexico Facebook Privacy Case

A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion in civil penalties for misleading Facebook users. On October 21, 2026, Judge Francis Mathew entered judgment in the state's Cambridge Analytica case, nearly four weeks after a Santa Fe jury found that Facebook violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act nearly 44 million times. The penalty carries 15% annual interest until it is paid, and Meta says it will appeal.

Last Updated: October 27, 2026

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The state case and the family cases are separate. New Mexico's judgment is about the State's own consumer-protection claims over Facebook's data practices. Individual claims for a child's or young adult's mental health injuries after heavy Instagram or Facebook use are filed separately, through the social media addiction litigation. A free case check takes about two minutes.

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Which Meta case this is

This is New Mexico's consumer-protection case over Facebook's data practices, in state court in Santa Fe. It is not the social media addiction litigation (MDL-3047 in federal court and JCCP 5255 in California), where families and school districts sue over addictive design. It is not New Mexico's separate child-safety case, which produced a $942 million judgment against Meta in August 2026. And it is not part of Meta's August 26 multistate settlement; New Mexico chose to try its case instead. No money from this judgment goes to individual Facebook users.

What we know

The order: On October 21, 2026, Judge Francis Mathew of the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe entered findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment ordering Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties to the State of New Mexico.
Interest: The judgment says interest on the penalty accrues at 15% per year until paid in full.
The verdict behind it: On September 25, 2026, a jury found that Facebook committed 43,899,725 willful violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, which allows a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation.
The case: State of New Mexico ex rel. Torrez v. Meta Platforms, Inc., f/k/a Facebook, Inc., No. D-101-CV-2021-00132, filed by the New Mexico Attorney General in 2021 over Facebook's statements about user data, Cambridge Analytica, misinformation, hate speech, and equal enforcement of its rules.
Meta's response: Meta's chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said the company is confident it will prevail on appeal (Reuters; Source NM).

What's still unknown

Injunctive relief: The court reserved ruling on injunctive relief pending further briefing, so any court-ordered changes to Facebook's practices are still undecided.
Appeal timing: Meta says it will appeal. When it files, and whether payment is put on hold while the appeal runs, has not been reported.
Collection: When, or whether, New Mexico collects any part of the $25 billion depends on the appeal. Interest keeps running at 15% a year under the judgment until it is paid.
Effect on the addiction cases: None, formally. This is a state consumer-protection case about Facebook's data and content statements, not a product-liability case about addictive design, and it is not part of MDL-3047 or JCCP 5255.

Key Takeaways

On October 21, 2026, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties, with interest at 15% a year until paid
The penalty rests on a September jury verdict finding 43,899,725 willful violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act
The court found the conduct supported the maximum $5,000 per violation, then reduced the total to $25 billion; injunctive relief is still to be decided
Meta says it is confident it will prevail on appeal
This is a data-practices case, separate from the social media addiction lawsuits and from New Mexico's $942 million child-safety judgment

What the court ordered

The Unfair Practices Act lets a court impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each willful violation. The jury had already decided the facts, including how many violations occurred, by counting the New Mexicans each misleading statement was expected to reach. Judge Mathew's job was to set the penalty. He concluded that "the extraordinary number of willful violations found by the jury, the duration and repetition of the conduct, the breadth of subjects on which violations occurred, the involvement of senior Facebook leadership, the size of the New Mexico audiences reached, and the clearly intentional and systematic nature of Facebook's repeated misstatements" supported the highest penalty the statute allows. He then reduced the total to $25 billion.

Facebook's wrongdoing, carried on for years and broadcast to the public, "goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," the court wrote. The findings describe representations spanning more than eleven years, from 2010 to 2021, about users' control of their data, third-party access to that data, the investigation Facebook promised after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, misinformation, hate speech, and whether Facebook applied its rules equally to everyone. The court found that some of the statements came from Facebook's most senior leadership, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, and that Facebook kept making them after its own employees and researchers had identified problems with what it was promising.

The judgment adds that interest on the penalty accrues at 15% per year until it is paid in full, and the court reserved ruling on injunctive relief pending further briefing.

How the case got here

New Mexico's Attorney General sued in 2021, after revelations that Cambridge Analytica had obtained data from millions of Facebook users through a third-party app. The state's case went beyond the scandal itself, challenging what Facebook told consumers about its data practices and its handling of misinformation and hate speech. After a thirteen-day trial, the jury returned its verdict on September 25, 2026, finding 43,899,725 willful violations.

At an October 1 hearing, New Mexico asked for between $35 billion and $40 billion. In court filings, Meta urged the court to cap the penalty at $3.45 billion, arguing that it does not sell user data and that the state never proved any consumer was actually misled, Reuters reported. Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the result "a historic day for New Mexico and for consumers across the country." Meta's chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said the ruling "makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico" and that the company is confident it will prevail on appeal.

Two different New Mexico cases against Meta

New Mexico has now won two major judgments against Meta in 2026, in two unrelated cases that are easy to confuse.

	Child-safety case	Data-practices case
Case number	D-101-CV-2023-02838	D-101-CV-2021-00132
About	Child exploitation and safety on Facebook and Instagram	Statements about user data, Cambridge Analytica, misinformation, and hate speech
Judge	Bryan Biedscheid	Francis Mathew
Result	$942 million ($375 million in penalties plus a $567 million abatement fund), August 2026	$25 billion in penalties plus 15% annual interest, October 21, 2026

How this relates to the social media addiction lawsuits

Formally, it does not. The addiction litigation is about product design: whether features like infinite scroll, autoplay, and engagement-driven recommendations were built to foster compulsive use by minors and caused mental health injuries. The New Mexico judgment is about whether Facebook told the truth about its data and content practices. Different claims, different court, and no money for individuals.

The overlap is in the states' strategy. Meta's August 26 multistate settlement also resolved several states' Cambridge Analytica claims, a component of about $459 million, according to Reuters and the settlement's terms. New Mexico stayed out and went to trial. The addiction cases themselves continue: the next California trial, S.J. and K.D.B. v. Meta and Snap in JCCP 5255, is set to begin in Los Angeles on October 28, and the first federal school-district trial in MDL-3047 is set for February 2027. Our MDL-3047 page tracks both.

What it means for families

The New Mexico judgment does not create a fund or a claim form, and Facebook users cannot file for a share of it. Families whose child developed depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts after compulsive use of Instagram or Facebook as a minor pursue that through the social media addiction litigation, where Meta is one of four platform defendants and new cases are filed every month.

This is general litigation reporting, not legal advice. Filing deadlines vary by state and, for minors, are often paused until adulthood but do run. Anyone weighing a claim should speak with a licensed attorney about their own situation. Our step-by-step filing guide explains how an individual case works.

Instagram and Facebook addiction lawsuit: background & eligibility

For the Meta-specific allegations in the addiction litigation, the trial schedule, and how the state cases differ from individual claims, visit our Instagram page or the MDL-3047 hub.

Check Your Eligibility Instagram Lawsuit Page Social Media Lawsuit: Full Overview

Sources

• Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Judgment, State of New Mexico ex rel. Torrez v. Meta Platforms, Inc., f/k/a Facebook, Inc., No. D-101-CV-2021-00132 (N.M. 1st Jud. Dist. Ct., Santa Fe County, filed Oct. 21, 2026), as posted by the New Mexico Department of Justice.
• New Mexico Department of Justice, "The New Mexico Department of Justice Secures Another Landmark Victory Against Big Tech, with Historic $25 Billion Penalty Against Facebook" (Oct. 21, 2026).
• New Mexico Department of Justice, "Jury Finds Facebook Violated New Mexico Consumer Protection Law, Faces Billions in Potential Civil Penalties" (Sept. 25, 2026).
• New Mexico Department of Justice, "Court Orders Meta to Pay $942 Million and Overhaul Protections for Children on Facebook and Instagram in Landmark New Mexico Ruling" (Aug. 7, 2026).
• Reuters, "Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty to New Mexico in data privacy case" (Oct. 21, 2026).
• Source NM, "New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay state $25B" (Oct. 21, 2026).
• New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 57-12-1 to -26 (civil penalties at § 57-12-11).