Facebook faced with massive penalties after New Mexico privacy verdict

A Santa Fe County judge is set to rule on civil penalties against Meta after a jury found the company liable for 26 false or misleading statements about user privacy, largely tied to the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal. The jury's math, multiplying violations by New Mexico's population and account estimates, produced a $219 billion verdict, which prosecutor Randi McGinn has asked the judge to cut to 20%, still among the largest civil penalties in U.S. history.

Meta's attorney called the figure unconstitutional, arguing the state never showed anyone was actually harmed by the 26 statements and that the count was inflated by treating each outlet or user as a separate violation. The judge indicated he favors a smaller number than McGinn's request, noting the disproportion between one state's penalty and the $17 billion that 47 states collectively settled for over a related addiction-design case.

This is the latest in a string of costly rulings against Meta this year, including $375 million and $567 million in a separate youth-safety case and the multistate addictive-design settlement.

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