DOMINANT ANGLE
Ottawa is assessing the legal implications of the $25 billion penalty imposed on Meta, between Judge Mathew's reasoning and the announcement of an appeal based on freedom of expression.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion, (approximately $35 billion Canadian according to CBC), after a penalty deemed justified of over $219 billion.
- 02
On September 25, the jury found 26 of Meta's 29 statements to be misleading and upheld over 43 million infractions.
- 03
Meta will appeal: its head of litigation C. J. Mahoney denounces a lawsuit that amounts to imposing "a tax on speech".
ANALYSIS
Ottawa, October 22, 2026. The Canadian press is treating the decision as an exceptional judgment by its scope, relying on the common wire story picked up by CBC News and Global News. On Wednesday, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion US, approximately $35 billion Canadian according to CBC, after a jury concluded that the company had deceived consumers.
The two media outlets recall the origin of the case: the state sued Meta in 2021 following revelations about Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm that had collected data from up to 87 million Facebook users through a third-party application. On September 25, the jurors estimated that 26 of the 29 statements made by the company and its leaders were misleading and retained more than 43 million infractions.
Judge Francis Mathew ruled that a penalty of over $219 billion US was justified under state law, before reducing it to $25 billion. He writes that Facebook's shortcomings, "over years and systematically disseminated to the public," affect "the heart" of its business practices. Attorney General Raúl Torrez sees this as one of the most important verdicts by a state against the company, if not the most important, in American history.
Global News places the sanction in a timeline: it is the heaviest penalty imposed on the giant since Cambridge Analytica, after the $5 billion from the Federal Trade Commission in 2019. Six other states had settled their lawsuits for $459.2 million as part of a $17.1 billion multi-state settlement concluded in August.
Meta's response takes center stage. Its head of litigation, C. J. Mahoney, says he is confident of winning on appeal and believes the decision makes it "practically impossible" to do business in New Mexico; according to him, the lawsuit seeks to impose "a tax on speech." Global News notes that the company had already invoked its constitutional rights to a fair procedure and protection against excessive fines. CBC specifies that a spokesperson had not immediately responded to its request for comment.
