Judge orders Meta to pay state $25B
A judge ordered Meta to pay the state of New Mexico $25 billion for violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. The violations were primarily related to Facebook selling user data.
Attorney General Raul Torrez said the landmark ruling sends a message.
"I think today's judgment from a state which, admittedly, is not very big in terms of population should be a clear warning to everyone in big tech—Mr. Zuckerberg, Meta, social media companies, AI companies."
Torrez said it was one of the largest state verdicts ever against a corporation. New Mexico opted out of joining a lawsuit with dozens other states that was awarded only $459 million in total. Torrez said the award money is required to be spent on school expenditures.
"So we may have, in fact, paid for the construction of schools for the next several hundred years."
Meta is expected to appeal the decision.
Unreported methane plumes abound
A new report has counted over 160 major methane leaks at New Mexico oil and gas facilities during a recent 16 month period. Capital and Main reports that few of the leaks have been reported to the state as required by New Mexico law.
Energy Transfer and Targa Resources were the two operators with the most leaks. They did not respond to Capital and Main's request for comment.
EPA director Lee Zeldin vowed to cancel the agency's Methane Super Emitter Program at a Santa Fe meeting earlier this month. The Biden-era program identifies methane leaks that are highly polluting. All of the leaks identified in the report qualify as super emitters.
The state Environment Department is considering rules that would replace the threatened federal super emitter program.
Santa Fe County warns of fraudulent emails
The county said in a press release that scammers are using county branding to impersonate county departments and request payments. Santa Fe County will never send an invoice or request payment by email. You can always reach out to the appropriate county department to verify any payment request.
If you have provided any personal information to a suspected scammer, you can contact the Regional Emergency Communications Center at (505) 428-3720. You can also report suspected cyber crimes to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
