New Mexico jury finds Meta deceived consumers about data privacy practices

A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook violated the law nearly 44 million times by lying to consumers about its data privacy practices.

The amount of damages the Meta-owned tech giant will ultimately pay will be determined by a judge in the coming weeks, but the verdict could cost Meta billions because each violation of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act carries up to $5,000 in civil penalties. 

The jury found that Facebook misled consumers by telling them they controlled how their information was shared and that it did not buy or sell users’ private data, particularly with advertisers. 

Jurors also held that Facebook’s statements about hate speech and misinformation were “willfully deceptive,” according to a press release from the office of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.

Facebook promises the jury found to be lies included claims that it did not profit from misinformation or hate, that it deleted “harmful” misinformation from the platform, that it did not tolerate hate speech and that it had no incentive to retain hateful content.

The jury also determined that Facebook “willfully” deceived consumers by claiming it strictly adhered to its “community standards” policy by falsely asserting it offered “no special protections for particular groups and no exceptions to its policies for politicians or newsworthiness,” the press release said.

Additionally, the jury held that the social media behemoth lied about its purported probe into third-party applications in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Specifically, the jury found that Facebook did not honor promises to investigate apps that accessed significant amounts of user data, conduct forensic audits, stop working with developers who misused data and alert people whose information may have been impacted.

The case is just the latest in a string of trials Meta has lost or settlements it has reached for its data privacy practices. Meta has already racked up tens of  billions in financial penalties for these types of cases. Friday’s verdict finding Meta liable for lying to New Mexico consumers could substantially add to that number.

Meta also has been under attack for its kids’ online safety practices. In March, a New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $942 million in civil penalties for breaking New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. In August, Meta settled a separate kids’ online safety case with California for $17 billion and a commitment to make significant reforms to better protect kids on the platform.

“For years, Facebook operated as if the rules that apply to everyone else didn’t apply to them,” Torrez said in a statement. “This is a historic verdict, not just for New Mexico, but for every state fighting to hold Big Tech accountable.”

In addition to fines, New Mexico is pressing the judge to order Facebook to make sweeping changes to its data privacy practices in the future.

A spokesperson for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.