A judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion to New Mexico following a jury ruling that found the tech company liable for misleading users over privacy and content moderation policies on Facebook .

Presiding over the case, Judge Francis Mathew handed down the penalty, which state Attorney General Raúl Torrez characterized as "one of the largest, if not the single largest state verdict against a company in American history."

Torrez emphasized that the outcome should serve as a clear warning to tech firms, affirming that New Mexico will continue to hold them accountable.

Speaking at a news conference, Torrez stated, "This judgment should be a signal, an unambiguous message, to Silicon Valley."

Legal representatives for the state had originally pursued a penalty between $35 billion and $40 billion.

The order follows a September decision in which jurors found Meta liable for over 43 million violations of New Mexico consumer protection laws.

The breaches stemmed from the harvesting of Facebook user data by…