Meta ordered to pay $25 BILLION in damages--down from $219 BILLION

Back in September a story slipped under my radar: a jury in New Mexico found social media giant Meta guilty of violating the state's "Fair Practices Act" by selling user data to other companies.  The original jury award was reportedly $219 Billion.

I didn't hear anything about that til today (21 October 2026) when CNBC (I know, lotsa' garbage propaganda bullshit) reported that the even though a "filing" showed that the jury had awarded $219.5 Billion, the judge had unilaterally reduced that to $25 Billion.

One wonders what basis the judge had for reducing the damage award to barely over one-tenth of the original figure, eh?  But surely there was a solid, rational reason.  

Surely.  Really.  Must be, eh?

And if you think the lower award is gonna stand, you're naive.  I'll be interested to learn if a court of appeals or the New Mexico supreme court reduces the amount of damages--currently $25 BILLION, down from $219 Billion--to a far friendlier one billion, or even less.  And of course Meta says they'll appeal.

Care to bet on the eventual outcome?

Spoiler:  If you're an attorney who's been asked to get the damage award reduced from $25 BILLION (and again that's down from the original $219 Billion), how much are you willing to do to reduce the damage award by, say, a mere two Billion?  It's a no-brainer: One percent of two billion dollars is...well you tell me, eh?  Cuz yew iz smaht, right?  Yew know maff.  So how much is one percent of two B? 

Twenty.  Million.  Dollars.  Hmmmm....

Source. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/21/meta-new-mexico-cambridge-analytica-penalty.html