New Mexico Says Facebook Misled Users — Privacy Trial Could Lead To Billions In Penalties

Attorneys for New Mexico told jurors Wednesday that Facebook misled users about the privacy protections on its platform, urging a verdict that would hold the company responsible for thousands of violations of state law.

Trial Overview

After two weeks of testimony and evidence, jurors must decide whether Facebook violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act and, if so, how many distinct violations occurred. If the jury finds violations, a judge will set the penalty per violation — with the state seeking the maximum civil fine of up to $5,000 each and an injunction to prevent future disclosures of user data.

What The Case Alleges

The lawsuit focuses on a third-party personality quiz that harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and transferred that data to Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that used the information to build targeted political ads. Prosecutors argue Facebook failed to protect users from that harvesting and misrepresented its privacy safeguards to New Mexicans.

“We became the product for Facebook. They turned our dreams into data they could sell to advertisers,” said Randi McGinn, an attorney for the state.

Facebook's Defense

Lawyers for Facebook (Meta) disputed the state's account, saying the platform does not sell user information and that the company has substantially strengthened privacy safeguards since the incident. Defense lawyer Dane Butswinkas told jurors Facebook investigated suspicious third-party apps, separated revenue and product teams, and identified only one comparable breach during the state's five-year review.

Butswinkas also cited internal data showing the platform blocks or removes 99% of content that violates its standards and argued Facebook has strong incentives to curb harmful material.

Zuckerberg Deposition And Fact-Checking Concerns

The trial record included a video deposition of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about an internal list of thousands of accounts that required extra review before their content could be removed from Facebook or Instagram. Prosecutors pointed to an email in which Zuckerberg asked staff to add podcaster Joe Rogan's accounts to that list and argued the special-review process created a backlog that allowed viral content to spread before removal.

Zuckerberg testified the company must be cautious about removing sensitive material and that moderating content at scale presents difficult trade-offs.

Potential Impact

New Mexico estimates roughly 350,000 state residents were exposed to the Cambridge Analytica breach, while prosecutors note there were about 1.3 million Facebook users in the state at the time — a distinction the state says supports a broader claim that Facebook deceived all New Mexicans through public statements about privacy and violent-content controls. If jurors find violations on a large scale, penalties could total in the billions.

Related Settlements And Judgments

Earlier this year, 48 states reached a multistate settlement with Meta that addressed child-safety and privacy issues related to the same data incident; that $18 billion deal included language releasing Meta from future liability tied to the Cambridge Analytica breach, leaving New Mexico as the only state to press those particular data claims to trial. Florida also opted out of the settlement, saying it was not strong enough.

Separately, New Mexico won judgments totaling $942 million in a two-phase trial about Meta's protections for minors; courts ordered new safeguards such as age verification and time limits. Those judgments are on hold pending appeal.

Associated Press reporting contributed to this story.