Why Meta May Challenge New Mexico’s $25 Billion Penalty on Appeal

Meta Platforms has a strong basis for arguing that New Mexico’s $25 billion penalty should be reduced on appeal, legal experts told Reuters. The analysis follows a jury verdict and a judge’s penalty order; it does not overturn either one or predict the final outcome.

The central counting question

New Mexico said state law allowed a penalty of up to $5,000 for each time someone in the state may have seen a misleading statement. Jurors found that 26 of 29 statements by Meta and its leaders were misleading and calculated more than 43 million violations by multiplying those statements by their potential audience.

Peter Ormerod, a Villanova law professor, said the vulnerable issue may be whether a violation can count without proof that a particular person saw or relied on the alleged misrepresentation. Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University said the calculations felt duplicative, asking how often one person can be misled by the same company.

Meta’s constitutional arguments

Meta has said New Mexico did not prove that consumers were actually misled and that a penalty in the billions could violate due-process protections and the constitutional ban on excessive fines. The company is expected to appeal both the underlying verdict and the amount.

Even if state appeals fail, experts said Meta could ask the US Supreme Court to review constitutional issues. But the size of the award alone does not guarantee reversal. Daryl Lim of Penn State Dickinson Law noted that the state statute permits penalties for each willful violation.

What the court already decided

The judge said a calculation above $219 billion could be justified under state law but reduced the award to $25 billion. New Mexico had sought $35 billion to $40 billion, while Meta argued for no more than $3.45 billion. The appeal will test how the law applies the number of alleged violations, not simply whether privacy concerns existed.

Illustrative file photo of a smartphone with social media apps; not a screenshot or event involved in the report. Photo: Nathan Dumlao / Unsplash. Unsplash License; cropped to 16:9. Image source; license.

Sources

Reuters appeal analysis
Reuters judgment report
Existing registry article