I'm willing* to bet $25B Meta won't have to pay out anywhere close to $25B in the end.
*Willing, but not necessarily able. Terms and conditions apply.
this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2026
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Although the jury concluded that Meta had over 43 million violations of the state’s unfair practices act, with each transgression carrying a civil penalty as high as $5,000, a New Mexico judge was responsible for determining the ultimate fine. The Wednesday filing showed that the state was awarded $219.5 billion, but the penalty was ultimately reduced to $25 billion.
So the $25 billion judgment is a judicial reduction from the jury award of $219.5 billion.
I also like this decision from the judge:
The judge added that interest on the penalty shall accrue at the rate of 15% each year until the fine is paid off in full.
Meta will likely appeal, but not only does that not guarantee a reduction in the judgment, if they drag this out for years, New Mexico gets paid out even more.
I doubt New Mexico will ever see the money.
What are they going to do to actually punish Facebook for not paying?
Large corporations are somewhat immune from actual consequence these days.
Meta is building/operating the $3.3Billion Los Lunas Data Center in New Mexico.
That can change the situation on collection when the state has control where your billion dollar asset resides.
They can geoban Meta. Since pretty much who uses Meta services doesn't know how to use VPNs, there's a lot of pressure put on them.
the state was awarded $219.5 billion, but the penalty was ultimately reduced to $25 billion.
would have been a better headline, tbh
Meh, I like the $25 billion headline because its the realistic result of the trial. Citing the $219.5 billion number in the headline would be clickbait because, while true with specific verbiage, it doesn't actually have any impact or expectation of that award actually occurring.
No, I mean more like "Meta to pay just 10% of original fine" - So people get an idea of how their judiciary system really works.
Even that would be clickbait though, because $219.5 billion isn't the "original fine", its the jury guidance. Its part of the sausage making of the justice system. The jury has a range of the fine per incident they can choose from to suggest a judgment. The judge then uses that jury guidance with additional info to determine the actual judgement. In this case $25 billion is the "original fine".
You're technically correct, but I still disagree with you on this. My reasoning is that I think the real story here is that meta has wormed its way out of being punished adequately, again.
This is where it becomes subjective. For some,Meta being "punished adequately" would mean the complete liquidation of the company and charges for executives in front of the International Criminal Court in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
A $25 billion award would be 41% of Meta's annual profit. That is substantial!
At least it's not just a slap on the wrist, but I like the sound of the first paragraph!
"You're correct but you weren't negative enough so I disagree"
I don’t have the data, but while the revenue from this Cambridge case is greater than the 25B, this 25B is just the cost of doing business.
Meta is going to cry to Daddy Trump to get his Supreme Court to dismiss this judgement against New ~~Mexico~~ America.
They already got almost 90% cut off ...
The Wednesday filing showed that the state was awarded $219.5 billion, but the penalty was ultimately reduced to $25 billion.
State Law so doesn't matter. Only thing they can do is leave New Mexico.
Low key win to everyone in New Mexico
So New Mexico gets significantly more than the other states that settled. It’s still not enough, but it’s a start
That is over $25 for each man, woman, and child in NM. Nice!
If there were a billion people in New Mexico it would be $25 each, so I'd say it's a bit over.
25 billion (2,5×10^10) divided by the population of new mexico (~2,125,000) is ~11,765$. Per citizen.
How long before they file for ~~a bailout~~ "bankruptcy", and start doing business under a different name?