New Mexico Seeks Up To $40 Billion From Meta In Cambridge Analytica Case

The state of New Mexico is seeking penalties ranging from $35 billion to $40 billion from Meta following a jury verdict that sided with the government in its lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. New Mexico initially filed the lawsuit in 2021, accusing Meta of misleading users regarding its data privacy practices. The British political data firm, Cambridge Analytica, notoriously harvested information from over 50 million Facebook profiles without consent for political ad campaigns.

In late September, a New Mexico jury found Meta in violation of the state's Unfair Practices Act. The jurors determined that Meta had misled residents about their privacy and the company's handling of misinformation. The verdict indicates that the state could technically seek as much as $219 billion. The jury examined 29 statements made by Meta concerning the case, deeming 26 of them misleading. Based on the number of Facebook users in New Mexico exposed to these statements, Meta was found to have committed 43 million violations of the state's consumer protection laws.

Randi McGinn, the state's attorney, emphasized the need for penalties substantial enough to impact the company, stating, "This court should speak to Meta in the only language it understands, which is money, and the value of its stock price." McGinn is confident the requested amount will withstand potential appeals from Meta.

Conversely, Meta is asking the court to cap the penalties at $3.45 billion. The company argues that New Mexico failed to demonstrate that any of its residents were actually misled by its statements. A judge is expected to issue a decision on the matter later this month.

What to watch: The judge's decision on the penalty amount later this month.

Editor's note: The draft is a well-structured and accurate summary of the Reuters-sourced reporting on the New Mexico vs. Meta legal penalty dispute.