New Mexico seeks a Meta penalty of up to $40bn over Facebook privacy claims

New Mexico has asked a judge to impose a Meta penalty of $35 billion to $40 billion, Reuters reported on 1 October. The state made the request at a hearing in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, after a jury found that Meta misled Facebook users about their privacy.

The case goes back to Cambridge Analytica. The British political consultancy took data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app, without their consent. New Mexico sued over what Meta later told the public about how it protects user data.

A Santa Fe jury found 26 of 29 Meta statements misleading

The jury returned its verdict on 25 September. It looked at 29 statements by Meta and its executives and found 26 of them misleading. It counted more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection law, based on how many people saw each statement.

State law allows a penalty of up to $5,000 per violation. New Mexico says its request equals about 20% of the maximum.

Meta says $3.45bn is the most it should pay

Meta asked Judge Francis Mathew to cap any penalty at $3.45 billion. Its lawyers called the state’s figures an “astronomical penalty”, Benzinga reported. Meta argues the jury saw “cherry-picked snippets”, that it does not sell user data and that consumers suffered no real harm.

The case adds to a run of legal pressure on Meta’s data and ad practices outside the EU. A court in Lagos has ruled that Meta’s behavioural ads broke Nigerian law. In Europe, Poland has asked the European Commission to fine Meta €250 million over scam ads.

Judge Mathew plans to rule later in October

Judge Mathew said he will rule later in October. The open question is whether he lands nearer New Mexico’s $35-40 billion or Meta’s $3.45 billion.