Meta fined $25bn for 'lies' over user data privacy

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has been hit with the largest ever fine against it for its business practices.A judge in New Mexico on Wednesday ordered the company to pay $25bn (£18.6bn) following a two-week trial earlier this year that found it had spent years lying to the public about how it handled Facebook user data."The lies extend beyond Facebook's data practices as well," the judge said, adding they went to "the heart of Facebook's core business practices".Meta's head lawyer CJ Mahoney said the ruling made it "all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico". The company intends to appeal, a move Mahoney said will be successful.The fine is the largest to date against Meta, which has either been fined or agreed to settle several other lawsuits this year, including an $18bn deal with California over child safety.New Mexico's lawsuit stemmed from the role of Meta, then still doing business as Facebook, in what became known as the Cambridge Analytica scandal.That firm utilized data and information from millions of Facebook users as part of its work in political consulting, including on work related to the 2016 US Presidential election, which saw Donald Trump elected for the first time.New Mexico had also accused Meta of intentionally misleading the public on how it benefitted from content that included hate speech, and how such rules against it were enforced. The jury found the company had intentionally misled the public on those claims, too.