The ruling follows a lawsuit alleging that Meta misled Facebook users about who could access their personal information and how the platform handled harmful content, including hate speech and misinformation.
In a written order, Judge Francis Mathew said the company’s alleged misconduct over several years went to the heart of its business practices.
According to the report, the judge found that penalties exceeding $219 billion could have been imposed under state law but reduced the amount to $25 billion.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez described the decision as one of the largest judgments ever secured by a US state against a company.
The case dates back to 2021, when the state sued Meta following revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked on Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, had obtained personal information from up to 87 million Facebook users through a third-party application.
The data was allegedly collected without users’ informed consent and used for voter profiling and targeted political messaging.
New Mexico also accused Meta of misleading users about third-party access to their data and its policies for addressing harmful content on the platform.
The ruling comes after other states reached settlements related to Cambridge Analytica and separate allegations concerning the impact of social media platforms on young people’s mental health.
Meta could challenge the ruling, and the final amount payable may depend on further legal proceedings.