A New Mexico jury found Facebook liable on Friday for deceiving users about privacy protections following the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
Two major technology companies faced significant legal reckonings in U.S. state courts on Friday, confronting coordinated enforcement actions over data privacy and young user safety. In Santa Fe, a two-week trial concluded with a New Mexico jury holding Facebook accountable for deceptive practices tied to a massive data harvest, while TikTok opted to settle with Alabama rather than face an imminent courtroom battle.
New Mexico Jury Finds Facebook Liable in Cambridge Analytica Verdict
The New Mexico trial centered on allegations that Facebook deceived users about privacy protections on the social media platform after a third-party personality quiz harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles.
Jurors decided that Facebook’s failure to protect user data impacted New Mexico’s entire population of more than 2 million people. The panel found the company misled the public regarding investigations into third-party data brokers in the aftermath of the scandal, rendering Meta liable for more than 2 million statutory violations.
“For years, Facebook operated as if the rules that apply to everyone else didn’t apply to them. Today, a jury of New Mexicans said otherwise.”
Raúl Torrez, New Mexico Attorney General
State prosecutors asked the presiding judge to assess the maximum civil penalty of $5,000 per violation. Because the jury found the company liable for over 2 million violations, potential penalties could climb significantly.
Legal Strategy and the Broader Multistate Settlement Context
During closing arguments in Santa Fe, defense lawyers argued that the state’s evidence was outdated, noting that New Mexico failed to uncover additional data breach instances despite having five years to investigate. Meta disagreed with the jury’s outcome and indicated plans to contest the ruling.
The company also maintained that free speech concerns featured very prominently
during the proceedings, asserting a First Amendment right to manage platform policies in the interest of its community.
New Mexico stands alone in pursuing litigation over the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach. In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to resolve a broader multistate lawsuit concerning child safety issues. A provision buried within that 130-page settlement released Meta from future liability connected to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, leaving New Mexico as the sole state permitted to press forward with its distinct claim after Florida declined to sign the agreement.
TikTok Settles With Alabama Over Youth Addiction Claims
While Facebook fought its case in court, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, reached their first state-level settlement just days before a scheduled trial in Alabama. Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office had accused the platform of intentionally designing its algorithm to hook young users on violent content, which the state claimed caused related emergency room visits to surge.
- Implementing a strict two-hour daily time limit
- Enforcing automatic pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use
- Upgrading age-verification procedures for account holders
The company continues to face similar litigation from at least 27 other states and Washington, D.C., alongside a prior settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding federal children’s privacy violations.
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