Panorama

Court orders Meta to pay $25 billion over Cambridge Analytica scandal

A New Mexico court has fined Meta $25 billion for allegedly deceiving users about data protection in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

22 October 2026Tagblick Newsdesk

AI-generatedWritten by an AI system, editorially responsible — how we work

Archive photo: Court orders Meta to pay $25 billion over Cambridge Analytica scandal — Archive photoPhoto: Michael Vadon · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

A court in the U.S. state of New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion. The ruling is connected to the scandal involving political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which had harvested data from millions of Facebook users.

According to multiple sources, Meta allegedly deceived users regarding data privacy and freedom of speech. A judge identified 43 million violations of consumer protection laws, according to reports.

The state of New Mexico had originally sought a higher sum. According to one source, this demand was between $35 and $40 billion.

According to Deutschlandfunk, the ruling is for consumer deception. Cambridge Analytica was involved in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, according to reporting.

The verdict is the second against Meta in New Mexico within six months, as Der Tagesspiegel reported. The original Cambridge Analytica scandal had once shaken confidence in Facebook.

This item was written by an AI system on the basis of the headlines and short teasers of the independently operating newsrooms named below. We disclose this under Art. 50(4), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act). Before publication we check origin and verifiability — anything that appears in only one place is not published — as well as language, substance and legally sensitive content. No separate substantive review of each individual item by a natural person takes place; we therefore do not rely on the exemption in Art. 50(4), second subparagraph, of the AI Act. Editorial responsibility for this publication rests with the person named in the imprint (§ 18 Abs. 2 MStV). Please report errors to [email protected] — we will correct or remove the item. Full reports are available from the sources listed.