New Mexico Jury Finds Meta Liable in Cambridge Analytica Privacy Case

On September 25, a Santa Fe, New Mexico jury determined that Facebook misled users regarding privacy safeguards on its platform, concluding the company had breached the state's consumer protection statute over 43 million times in connection with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.¹²⁶

The trial

Over two weeks, the Santa Fe trial focused on claims that Facebook misled users concerning a data breach originating from a third-party personality quiz app that collected information from about 87 million profiles.¹²⁶

The harvested data was sold to Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm whose clients included Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, according to cp24.com. The scandal was first revealed in 2018, and the firm later collapsed within months of the revelations, according to RT.²⁵

Bloomberg reported that the proceedings featured recorded testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and its former operations chief, Sheryl Sandberg. Per Bloomberg, jurors held Meta responsible for most of the 34 statements listed on the verdict form, tallying somewhere between 1.3 million and 2.1 million infractions per statement.⁴

CBS News reported that Facebook was found liable for more than 2 million violations related to misleading the public about investigations into data brokers. PBS reported that jurors determined the state failed to establish that Facebook lied about taking down harmful material, including COVID-19 misinformation.³⁶

Penalties at stake

State attorneys are pursuing the highest allowable fine of $5,000 for each violation. If a judge grants the maximum civil penalty, Meta could owe more than $200 billion, with figures cited up to $219 billion.¹²⁶⁴

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez expressed hope that the verdict would convey an unambiguous warning, telling Bloomberg he wanted Zuckerberg, Meta, and others to clearly grasp the implications. He also called the outcome a milestone, saying, "This is a historic verdict, not just for New Mexico, but for every state fighting to hold Big Tech accountable."⁴³

A hearing before Judge Francis Mathew is scheduled for October 1 to determine penalties, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.¹⁷

Meta's response

A Meta spokesperson, Alex Burgos, said the company disagreed with the verdict. "We disagree with the verdict and will continue to defend ourselves against efforts to distort our record," he said, adding that Meta considers its platforms forums for free expression protected by the First Amendment.⁶

Cp24.com reported that Facebook contended the state relied on stale evidence, noting that New Mexico, even after five years of investigation, had uncovered just a single additional data breach. Facebook also denied claims that it favored certain accounts and allowed violent or inaccurate content to proliferate, cp24.com reported. Facebook maintains it removes 99% of content that violates its standards, according to multiple reports.¹²⁶

Wider legal context

New Mexico was the only state to pursue a case against Meta specifically over the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, according to CBS News and cp24.com. Florida opted out of a related multistate settlement, arguing the terms were too lenient toward Meta.³²

Bloomberg reported that Meta had previously reached roughly $6 billion in combined settlements involving the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook users, and a coalition of state attorneys general — a deal that only New Mexico and Washington, DC declined to join.⁴

This is the second court win by the New Mexico Department of Justice against Meta this year, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. RT reported that New Mexico had earlier obtained a $942 million judgment against the company concerning its child-protection policies, after a Santa Fe jury determined in March that Meta had committed 75,000 violations related to child safety. That same month of August, Meta consented to pay as much as $18 billion to resolve a multistate lawsuit over child-safety concerns, while RT also noted a separate settlement in which Meta agreed to pay approximately $17 billion to resolve claims brought by dozens of states and territories.¹²⁶⁵

Law professor Peter Ormerod, of Villanova University, said the case was unlikely to substantially discipline the company. "It's unlikely that this is going to be the case that effectively penalizes the company in a meaningful way," he said, adding, "There's been a lot of criticism that none of these amounts of money are enough to discipline the company."⁶