Comment by xp84

It's amazing how the anti-Facebook hate is so strong that it's not possible to even post a measured take like yours without getting downvoted to death.

And I acknowledge that a fine of a very manageable sum turns a violation of a law into a cost of doing business, like the proverbial rich man's parking ticket just looks to him like a really not-bad deal for a plum parking spot. So, yes, it's tricky to use fines to rein in businesses. But it's still very odd/suspect that Meta is fined 25 billion dollars for this, while Equifax, which lost the SSNs and financial data of every household in America, and they paid a settlement of 575 million dollars. Why? Because Meta's unpopular. That's the only reason.

A fine that amounts to 1/5 of the entire GDP of New Mexico, or 75% of its government's annual budget, seems farcical to me. Unless of course New Mexico will give a one-time tax rebate equalling to 75% of tax revenue to its people, in which case it's still farcical, but at least it's helping people.