A New Mexico jury has found Meta Platforms liable for deliberately misleading Facebook users about privacy and its platform policies, marking another significant legal setback for the social media company.
The case arose from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which emerged in 2018 following revelations that the British political consultancy had obtained information belonging to tens of millions of Facebook users without their consent through a third-party application. The information was subsequently used for voter profiling and political targeting, including during Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign.
New Mexico launched its case against Meta in 2021, alleging the company misrepresented the extent to which third parties could obtain users’ information and how Facebook investigated data brokers following the Cambridge Analytica disclosures.
After a two-week trial, jurors concluded on Friday that Meta had willfully deceived consumers. The verdict amounted to more than 43 million individual violations involving New Mexico’s population of more than two million people.
The financial penalty will be determined by a judge. New Mexico is seeking as much as $5,000 for each violation, meaning the theoretical maximum penalty could reach $219 billion.
Meta rejected the allegations and maintained that it had been open about shortcomings in its previous handling of privacy and misinformation. A company spokesperson said Meta disagreed with the verdict and would continue defending itself “against efforts to distort our record.”
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez described the decision as a “historic verdict,” arguing that evidence presented during the trial demonstrated how the company had operated “fast and loose with the rules.”
The decision follows another adverse verdict against Meta in New Mexico earlier this year. In March, a Santa Fe jury found the company liable for 75,000 violations relating to child safety and imposed $375 million in penalties. A judge subsequently ordered a further $567 million in remedies after describing Meta’s platforms as a “public nuisance.” Meta has said it intends to appeal.
The company also agreed last month to pay approximately $17 billion to resolve claims brought by numerous US states and territories concerning allegations about the design of Facebook and Instagram and their effects on children. New Mexico did not participate in that settlement, allowing its separate case to proceed to trial.
Image credit: Mariia Berezovsky
