Meta fined $25 billion for violating privacy laws

A New Mexico state court in the United States has ordered Meta, which owns Facebook, to pay a fine of $25 billion. According to the court, the company misled users about the protection of their personal data and its content control policy.

Judge Francis Matthew handed down the ruling after jurors found in September that Meta bears responsibility for violating the state's consumer protection laws.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torres told a press conference: "This decision must serve as a signal to the Silicon Valley, a clear and unambiguous message."

Under New Mexico's Constitution, fines for violating consumer protection laws are directed to state expenditures on education. Torres said the sums are sufficient to finance the construction of state schools over the next 100 years. He also acknowledged that, due to the expected appeal by Meta, the money may be unavailable for some time.

The Cambridge Analytica data case

The state's lawsuit is based on allegations of a data breach linked to the transfer of data to the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, approximately 87 million Facebook profiles. According to the allegations, the data was collected through a third-party personality test.

Alexander Kogan, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, according to information presented in the material, used the app-test "this is your digital life" on Facebook to collect information on 87 million people and in 2016 passed it to Cambridge Analytica. As reported by the source, a Channel 4 investigation showed that the company used this data to support Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign in the United States.

After the scandal emerged, Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Facebook, gave testimony in the US Senate. The crisis prompted technology companies to review their data handling policies in Europe and the United States.

According to the source, this is the largest fine assigned to Meta.

Source: cnnturk.com

Prepared by:Gurban Gurbanzadeh