A U.S. court ordered Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to pay $25 billion for deceiving the public about how it protects personal data, in a case tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Judge Francis Mathew set the fine on Wednesday after a jury determined that Facebook made misleading promises about who could access user data and how that information was protected, according to the ruling. The jury found 26 statements by Meta made between 2010 and 2021 to be misleading, including some by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
In his ruling, Mathew wrote that Facebook’s misconduct, developed over years and systematically disseminated to the public, went to the core of its business practices. According to the ruling, the company maintained those promises despite internal warnings that it could not fulfill them, and allowed certain business partners to retain access to data it had announced it would stop sharing in order to avoid losing revenue. The judge concluded that the messages sought to build trust and attract users, whose data are essential to the company’s personalized advertising business.
The case is deeply tied to Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and obtained data from millions of Facebook users without consent to promote political advertising, according to a statement from the New Mexico Department of Justice. Revelations about the firm, made public in 2018, affected up to 87 million profiles and sparked an international scandal over the use of personal information by social networks and their role in electoral campaigns. The trial also examined what Facebook said publicly about its efforts to combat disinformation and hate speech.
Although the judge initially calculated a fine of more than $219 billion, he ultimately reduced the amount to $25 billion, which will accrue annual interest of 15% until effective payment. The money will go to New Mexico’s education system, although the attorney general warned that an appeal by Meta could delay the availability of the funds.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez presented the decision as one of the largest financial penalties against a company in U.S. history.
¿Os acordáis de aquellos tiempos en los que llamar por teléfono era tan fácil como simplemente hacerlo? Parece una pregunta sin sentido pero es que ahora, salvo que la llamada sea para tus padres, tus hijos o alguien con quien tengas muchísima confianza, es mejor avisar o escribir antes. Esto se nota especialmente en la generación Zeta y la Alfa: el 96,8% de los jóvenes entre 14 y 24 años prefieren comunicarse por WhatsApp, según un informe de la Fundación Telefónica. Y eso se ha ido trasladando también a personas algo más mayores. No sé vosotros, pero en mi entorno de gente de entre treinta y cuarenta y tantos nos escribimos para fijar una hora o un día para llamarnos. Hemos empezado a percibir llamar sin avisar como un acto invasivo en la vida privada. La mensajería instantánea ha traído consigo una pérdida de la oralidad recíproca, instantánea, y más natural. Claro que siempre nos quedarán las notas de voz.
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