Key facts
- A New Mexico jury found Meta Platforms misled state residents regarding data privacy and content policies.
- The verdict stems from allegations related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where user data was harvested.
- New Mexico's lawsuit accused Meta of misleading statements about data sharing with third parties.
- The state also alleged Meta mishandled hate speech and misinformation on its platforms.
- Meta denied selling user data and argued that statements cited by the state lacked context.
- A judge will decide the monetary penalties Meta must pay.
A jury in Santa Fe, New Mexico, determined on Friday that Meta Platforms misled the state's residents, in a case stemming from allegations that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. Cambridge Analytica had worked on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
The verdict concluded a two-week trial over a lawsuit filed by New Mexico’s attorney general in 2021. The suit alleged that Meta made misleading statements about how personal information was shared with third parties, how it handled hate speech and misinformation, and whether it applied its policies uniformly.
Attorneys for the state argued that Facebook did not inform consumers about selling their data to outsiders and allowed hate speech or misinformation to be shared when it benefited the company. The lawsuit specifically pointed to statements by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company blog posts that New Mexico claimed led users to believe they had control over their data and that the platform had consistent policies for content moderation.
Meta's attorneys contended that the allegedly misleading statements were taken out of context and that the company continuously works to improve its handling of misinformation and privacy issues, denying it benefits from harmful content. The company also denied selling user data.
This is the second time in six months a Santa Fe jury has ruled against Meta. In March, a jury found the company misled users about the safety of young users on its platforms and ordered $375 million in civil penalties, later supplemented by a judge's order for $567 million for a teen mental health fund and measures to protect young users. Meta subsequently reached a broader settlement with 47 U.S. states and territories for about $16.7 billion related to claims of designing its platforms to addict children, and a separate $459 million to resolve privacy violations related to Cambridge Analytica for some states. New Mexico was not part of these settlements, allowing its case to proceed to trial.