Meta is facing mounting legal pressure across the US and Australia, with a US$25 (A$35.7) billion penalty in New Mexico and a landmark Australian class action. 

The cases are intensifying scrutiny of the owner of Facebook and Instagram’s handling of user data and the alleged harm its platforms cause young people.

In the US, a New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay US$25 billion after a jury found the company had repeatedly violated state consumer protection laws through statements about user privacy, data access and content moderation.

The ruling follows allegations stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which personal information from millions of Facebook users was harvested through a third-party application and used for political profiling and targeting.

The jury found Meta had committed more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws and Judge Francis Mathew said the tech giant’s repeated misrepresentations went to the heart of its business practices.

Meta has said it intends to appeal, arguing that the ruling threatens its ability to operate in the state. The penalty is among the largest ever imposed against a company in US legal history. 

On the heels of the US case, Meta confronts a separate legal challenge in Australia. Here, a class action has been filed in the Federal Court alleging Facebook and Instagram harmed users when they were children or teenagers.

The action is brought by law firm MinterEllison on behalf of eight unnamed lead applicants. It names Meta Platforms and its Australian subsidiaries, Facebook Australia and Instagram, as respondents.

According to reports, litigation funder Litigation Lending Services is backing the proceedings. The allegations include claims around Meta’s awareness of potential harm to children and the design of platform features intended to encourage user engagement.

The case is understood to be the first Australian attempt at a class action of this kind and has the potential to open another front in the global legal battle over social media’s impact on young users. 

The Australian action follows mounting litigation in the US over claims that social media platforms use features that encourage excessive engagement among children and teenagers, potentially contributing to mental health problems.

Meta has already faced substantial financial penalties and settlements in the US, including a US$5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The Australian proceedings will now test whether similar concerns can translate into successful legal claims under local law.

Beyond the financial pressures of these cases, the challenges for Meta could increase pressure on the company for greater transparency around its data practices, content moderation and the design of its services.

With Meta planning a US appeal, it also means the New Mexico penalty is unlikely to represent the final chapter in that dispute.