Meta calls New Mexico's lawsuit a tax on speech
Meta PlatformsChief legal officer C.J. Mahoney, speaking for Meta in an emailed statement
Meta calls the New Mexico lawsuit a tax on speech.
Responding to
The $25 billion penalty is justified by Meta's repeated, willful consumer-protection violations.
“At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online.”
Original text
Official statement
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Meta disputes New Mexico's $25 billion penalty over Facebook statements
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion following a jury verdict on misleading consumer representations. Attorney General Raúl Torrez calls the penalty accountability for violations of state law. Meta calls the case a tax on speech and says it expects to prevail on appeal.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
The signed judgment distinguishes the jury's liability findings from the court's civil-penalty award. It concerns the privacy and consumer-representations case.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Official statement
About this source
The attorney general presents the judgment as consumer accountability. The release comes from the party that brought the case.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Axios quotes Meta's chief legal officer criticizing the case and saying the company expects to prevail on appeal.
Before the quotation
In an emailed statement to Axios, Mahoney says the ruling and the attorney general's approach to enforcement make it all but impossible to do business in New Mexico.
After the quotation
He says Meta expects to prevail on appeal.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the $25 billion penalty and the case for it, Meta criticizes the lawsuit behind the penalty as a tax on speech. The objection targets the enforcement itself, so it goes beyond disputing how the state describes the case.
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More from this case
Read the full caseNew Mexico DOJ backs the $25 billion Facebook penalty
New Mexico Department of Justice
“Today’s result makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Meta calls New Mexico's lawsuit a tax on speech". First published: 2026-10-22. Last updated: 2026-10-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/6446-meta-calls-the-new-mexico-lawsuit-a-tax