[Young Journalist Ghahyeon Kim]  Meta has been fined $25 billion (approx. 33.2 trillion won) in the United States for deceiving users regarding privacy protections. This marks a staggering fivefold increase compared to previous penalties.

Judge Francis Mathew of the Santa Fe District Court in New Mexico ordered Meta on the 21st (local time) to pay $25 billion to the state government, ruling that the company violated state consumer protection laws by deceiving users over its privacy and content moderation policies. This penalty is five times the $5 billion fine the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) slapped on Facebook in 2019 for the same matter.

Judge Mathew ruled, "Facebook promised users that they could control their own data, but this was a lie."

The court recognized approximately 43.9 million violations by Meta. Applying a $5,000 fine per violation would have equaled about $220 billion, but the court applied a significant reduction to finalize the ultimate fine amount.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said at a press conference after the ruling, "This is among the largest verdicts against a corporation in state history in the U.S.," adding, "This ruling is a signal and a clear message to Silicon Valley."

This trial stems from an incident during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, where a political consulting firm unauthorizedly collected the personal data of 87 million Facebook users and utilized it for targeted political advertisements.

In August, 48 U.S. state governments reached an $18 billion settlement with Meta, agreeing to release the company from future legal liabilities. However, New Mexico, along with Florida, rejected the settlement and continued its independent legal battle.

Meta argued that the fine should be no more than $3.4 billion and expressed its intention to appeal the ruling.

Meanwhile, Meta has also previously paid a massive settlement in a facial recognition privacy lawsuit with the state of Texas. The lawsuit alleged that Meta collected and utilized biometric data without user consent through features like 'Tag Suggestions.' Meta ultimately resolved the case by paying a $1.4 billion (approx. 1.8 trillion won) settlement. Following the dispute, Meta eventually announced the shutdown of its facial recognition system in 2021.

Meta has often chosen to swiftly clear its legal risks by paying massive settlements regarding privacy protections. Recently, however, lawsuits have also been emerging in Europe and the United States over how Meta utilizes users' public posts and data to train its AI (artificial intelligence) models.

▶원문 기사: 메타 '이용자 기만'에 무려 33조 벌금형, 5배나 뛰었다 (이코노미스트, 2026. 10. 22)

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