A Santa Fe, New Mexico jury found Meta Platforms, Inc. liable on Friday, September 25, 2026, for deceiving state residents regarding its data privacy practices and misinformation policies. The verdict identifies 43,899,720 individual violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, potentially exposing the social media giant to a multi-billion dollar penalty.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is seeking the maximum statutory fine of $5,000 for each violation. Under this calculation, the theoretical maximum penalty for Meta reaches approximately $219.5 billion. While the jury determined liability and the specific count of violations, the final financial judgment will be set by District Judge Francis Mathew in a subsequent ruling.
The case focused on 29 specific public statements made by the company concerning how it handles user data and monitors content. The jury found that 26 of those 29 statements were misleading, including Meta’s representations about the sale of user data, its efforts to curb hate speech, and its policies for managing misinformation on its platforms.
Central to the state’s argument was the legacy of the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved the unauthorized harvesting of data from 87 million Facebook profiles. While most other U.S. states previously entered into a multi-state settlement that barred further claims related to those events, New Mexico opted out. By refusing the settlement, the state maintained the right to take Meta to trial over how the company’s privacy disclosures impacted its residents.
Meta has stated it disagrees with the jury’s findings and intends to appeal the decision. During the trial, the company’s legal team argued that the state’s case relied on outdated evidence that does not reflect current platform operations.
This verdict marks the second major legal blow to Meta in New Mexico this year. Earlier in 2026, the state won separate judgments totaling $942 million against the company in a case involving child safety protections on its platforms. Attorney General Torrez has framed this latest privacy victory as a necessary measure to hold big tech companies accountable for their public representations to consumers.
