A New Mexico jury has found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections, in a verdict that could lead to penalties of up to 5,000 dollars for each violation.
The amount will be decided by a judge after a two-week trial in Santa Fe. Lawyers for the state have asked for the maximum penalty.
The case focused on data gathered through a third-party personality quiz. Information from about 87 million Facebook profiles was harvested and sold to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica for targeted advertising, with the firm’s clients including Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Jurors found that Facebook’s failure to protect users’ data affected New Mexico’s entire population of more than two million people. They also ruled that the company had misled the public about investigations into data brokers after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, finding it liable for more than two million violations.
Facebook’s lawyers argued during closing submissions that the state’s evidence was outdated. They said New Mexico had five years to gather material but had found no more than one other instance of a data breach.
A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the verdict and would continue to defend itself against “efforts to distort our records”.
The spokesperson said free speech issues had featured prominently in the case, adding: “We have a First Amendment right to manage those platforms in a way we believe best serves the interests of our community. This means prioritising free speech, protecting our users’ information and giving them control over their data.”
New Mexico was the only state to continue pursuing a case over the Cambridge Analytica breach after Meta agreed in August to pay up to 18 billion dollars to settle a multistate lawsuit concerning child safety issues.
That 130-page settlement included an agreement to release Meta from future liability linked to the privacy breach. Florida was the only other state not to sign it, saying the deal did not impose sufficiently tough terms on Meta.
New Mexico has also secured judgments totalling 942 million dollars from Meta in a separate two-phase trial over protections for minors. The court ordered the company to introduce further safeguards, including age-verification technology and limits on the time users can spend on its platforms.
