In Brief

Posted:

12:42 PM PDT · October 21, 2026

Image Credits: Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance / Getty Images

The tale of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal is long — and it keeps costing Meta gargantuan sums of money.

On Wednesday, a judge ordered the social media giant to initiate its biggest payout yet: $25 billion to the state of New Mexico for the tech giant’s role in deceiving resident users over its data privacy practices, The New York Times reports .

The huge sum follows a two-week trial in which a New Mexico jury deliberated over the company’s alleged wrongdoing. The jury found that the company behind Facebook and Instagram had committed 43 million violations of the state’s consumer protection laws, each of which carried a $5,000 penalty, the outlet notes.

Part of the case revolved around the company’s handling of a third-party app linked to the Cambridge Analytica data breach, The Wall Street Journal reports .…