Social media giant Meta has been hit with the biggest fine in its history, ordered to pay more than $35bn to the US state of New Mexico for “lies” over user data privacy.
A court ordered the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to pay the fine following a two-week trial earlier this year that found it had spent years lying to the public about how it had handled Facebook user data (BBC).
“The lies extend beyond Facebook’s data practices as well,” the New Mexico judge said, adding that they went to “the heart of Facebook’s core business practices” (BBC).
The ruling comes as Meta faces a class action lawsuit in Australia over allegations that addictive design features are harming children and teenagers (SBS).
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