By Kevin Hendricks
In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook users, “We do not and never will sell any of your information to anyone.” A Santa Fe jury didn’t buy it.
Jurors in state District Court found Friday that Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook Inc., willfully violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act 43,899,720 times by misleading users about their data, misinformation, hate speech and more. Each violation carries a penalty of up to $5,000, which puts Meta’s maximum exposure at roughly $219.5 billion.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said Facebook spent years acting as if the rules didn’t apply to it. “Today, a jury of New Mexicans said otherwise,” he said.
Torrez said he instructed his trial team to seek the maximum penalty. State law routes civil penalties like these into a fund that supports New Mexico schools, he said.
What the jury found
Jurors reviewed public statements from Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg and other executives across five categories: users’ control of their data, misinformation, hate speech, equal enforcement of community standards and Meta’s promised investigation after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. They found willful violations in all five. Jurors also found Meta committed unconscionable trade practices in every category, meaning it took advantage of New Mexicans’ lack of knowledge to a grossly unfair degree.
The Cambridge Analytica category drew the most violations, more than 18.1 million. After the British firm harvested Facebook users’ data to target 2016 election ads, Meta promised to audit suspicious apps, ban developers who misused data and notify everyone affected.
More than 350,000 New Mexicans may have been caught up in that data harvest, Torrez said. His office plans to work with the court to notify them.
What happens next
District Judge Francis Mathew will decide how much Meta pays per violation, anywhere up to $5,000, and what changes to order. Torrez expects a ruling within weeks.
An appeal could take two to three years, Torrez said, with post-judgment interest piling up the whole time.
The verdict marks the state’s second lawsuit win over Meta this year. In March, a jury found Meta exposed children to predators and misled consumers about the risks, ordering $375 million in penalties.
Friday’s verdict doesn’t pay individual users, but Torrez said residents can still pursue their own claims.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 43,899,720: Violations the jury found
- $5,000: Maximum penalty per violation
- $219.5 billion: Maximum potential penalty
- 18.1 million+: Violations tied to Meta’s Cambridge Analytica response
- 350,000+: New Mexicans potentially affected by the data harvest, per Torrez
- 31 of 34: Verdict questions on which jurors sided with the state