Meta loses New Mexico privacy case, could face up to $219 billion in fines

BlockBeats news, September 26 — A New Mexico jury ruled that Meta deceived the public regarding its speech and data privacy policies, violating state law, making this the highest legal cost Meta has faced to date in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. State Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the verdict a "landmark moment" for holding tech giants accountable and will seek a civil penalty of up to $21.9 billion against Meta. The jury found Meta responsible for most of the 34 statements listed in the verdict, with each violation occurring between 1.3 million and 2.1 million times, corresponding to the number of Facebook users in New Mexico or the state's total population in 2020; each violation carries a maximum fine of $5,000, with the final amount to be determined by Judge Francis Mathew of the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, Meta closed down 3.33% on Friday following the announcement.

The case stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed in 2018: a questionnaire app developed by a data scientist appeared harmless but actually collected information from Facebook users and their friends, ultimately involving 87 million user profiles, which Cambridge Analytica used for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Meta had previously paid approximately $6 billion in total settlements with parties including the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook user groups, and a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, but New Mexico and Washington, D.C. were the only two jurisdictions that did not join the coalition settlement.

A Meta spokesperson disputed the ruling, saying the company will continue to defend itself and cited the First Amendment to emphasize its right to manage the platform in the way best suited to community interests, prioritizing free expression, protecting user information, and giving users control over their data. Notably, $21.9 billion is the theoretical maximum fine, with the actual amount depending on the judge's final discretion.