What does the decision of the court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to impose a fine of 375 million dollars (324 million euros) on the parent company of applications with global appeal, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, signal? A review of the legal adventures of the behemoths associated with the cutting edge of the digital revolution provides the answer.
Adventures
In Meta’s case, the court ruled that the company’s practices — owned by the fifth-richest man on the planet, Mark Zuckerberg — violated state laws protecting minors. During the trial, internal documents and testimony from former employees were presented, which jurors said proved that although Meta knew sex offenders were using its platforms, it did not put in place the security tools that would have prevented them.
Complementing the material provided in the civil suit was an investigation conducted by the office of the former state attorney general and current attorney general in 2023, in which investigators created accounts on the specific social media sites pretending to be minors. It is worth noting that the state had initially sought compensation of $2.1 billion.
The suffering of the technology giants did not stop there, since one day after the decision of the court in New Mexico (24/03) another fine followed against Instagram and YouTube (Google), in the amount of six million dollars, following a judgment that vindicates a 20-year-old user for the harmful effects that the addictive algorithms had on her health.
It is unknown whether one decision affected the other, and in both cases the companies will make use of their right to appeal. But insiders in the US legal system and specialist technology editors conclude that a legal precedent is being set against companies and in favor of users through social networking.
Background
It is not the first time that the digital giants that make up the so-called Big Tech are faced with dizzying fines for different reasons. From the time of the internet boom in the second half of the 90s to the social media boom ten years later, the first quarter of the 21st century was marked by legal disputes between state and supranational authorities on the one hand and the five largest companies (Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple), which make up the hard core (Big Five) of the technology industry and whose combined market value is estimated at 13 trillion dollars. The US and the EU have led efforts to regulate these companies, with South Korea, China and India following.
– The first trial where a state and a technology company “crossed swords” was in 1998, when the US Department of Justice together with twenty states filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing it of unfair practices against its competitors, which were aimed at its dominance in the web browser market. Initially the company was forced into a forced break-up – along the lines of John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in 1911 – but in 2001 a compromise was reached, after Bill Gates’ company agreed to “open” its software applications to the other companies.
– In 2012 Google agreed to pay $22.5 million to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after it was accused of secretly placing tracking cookies on the computers and devices of users of Apple’s Safari browser in order to reach them with its advertising content. In addition to the FTC fine, Google agreed in 2013 to pay an additional $17 million to settle similar charges from 37 US states.
– In 2019, the FTC fined Meta a whopping $5 billion, alleging that Facebook defrauded “tens of millions” of people by not disclosing that the phone numbers it had collected to enable security mechanisms would be used for advertising purposes. The fine came a few months after the outbreak of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when it was revealed that this British consulting firm had collected personal data from 87 million Facebook users without their consent for five years and for political advertising purposes. The company is believed to have played a key role in Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, although the extent of its actual influence on the final outcome remains a matter of debate. Although the final amount was collected by the relevant authorities, there was criticism that the settlement did not allow the legislature to proceed with deeper structural changes in the way the company operates.
– In 2018, the European Commission (Commission) fined Google €4.34 billion for abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile operating system. The General Court of the EU reduced the fine to 4.125 billion in 2022. The company has not paid the amount or part of it, pending an appeal it filed with the highest judicial body of the Union.
– In 2021, South Korean authorities fined Google $177 million. The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ruled that Google abused its dominant position in the software market by preventing device manufacturers (such as Samsung) from using modified versions of Android (Android forks). In January 2024, the Seoul High Court rejected an appeal by Google. Following the Court of Appeal’s decision, Google reserves the right to appeal to the country’s Supreme Court.
– In 2021 the Chinese authorities turned against Alibaba, imposing a fine of $2.78 billion. Although the company is not one of the Big Five, it remains one of the largest technology companies in the world. The group was accused of seeking exclusivity from merchants who wanted to sell their products on its platform, avoiding rival e-commerce sites. The company accepted the fine and paid the full amount.
– In 2022, Indian authorities fined Google $162 million, again in the case of Android phones. Google paid the full amount.
– In 2024, the Commission, after a multi-year investigation, imposed a fine of 1.8 billion euros on Apple, which is the first EU antitrust penalty against the company. Apple was found guilty of abusing its dominant market position by preventing developers of music streaming apps from informing users of cheaper subscription alternatives outside the App Store. Apple appealed the decision, arguing that Brussels must prove actual harm to consumers.
– September 2025 was the last time the EU and Google “bumped”, after the Commission’s decision to impose a fine of 2.95 billion euros, on the charge that the American technology giant abused its dominant position in the field of online advertising (Adtech). Indirect threats by the US president against the EU were preceded, with Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on any country or organization that implements regulations deemed harmful to US technology companies. To date, however, Washington has not followed through on its threats.
