New Mexico jury finds Facebook liable for 43 million privacy violations
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "New Mexico jury finds Facebook liable for 43 million privacy violations")
Representative image. Photograph: (Wikimedia Commons)
The trial held over two weeks in Santa Fe, centred on claims that Facebook misled users regarding a data breach linked to a third-party personality quiz, one that scraped information from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm.
A New Mexico jury on Friday (September 25) found Facebook accountable for defrauding users about privacy protections on the social media platform. The jury found the platform more than 43 million violations of state consumer protection law, and the final verdict on the total fine the company will have to pay lies with the judge, with attorneys representing the state demanding the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation.
“The verdict marks a significant victory for New Mexico consumers and holds one of the world’s largest technology companies accountable for its conduct,” the New Mexico Department of Justice stated in a statement. The trial held over two weeks in Santa Fe, centred on claims that Facebook misled users regarding a data breach linked to a third-party personality quiz, one that scraped information from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm. It then used the data to craft targeted political advertisements.
Among the now-shuttered firm's clients was Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The jury ultimately ruled in favour of the prosecution, concluding that Facebook's failure to safeguard user data had affected every one of New Mexico's more than two million residents. Additionally, jurors remained firm that Facebook misrepresented the state of its investigations into data brokers in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica controversy, holding the company liable for more than two million separate violations.
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New Mexico identify more data breaches
In their closing remarks, Facebook's legal team argued that the evidence presented by the state was outdated, pointing out that despite having five years to build its case, New Mexico had been unable to identify more than a single additional instance of a data breach. To resolve the multistate lawsuit linked to child safety issues, Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion.
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The agreement hidden in the 130-page settlement was related to the company releasing Meta from future liability linked to the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, making New Mexico the only state to take over a case. Surprisingly, Florida was the only US state that did not sign the settlement, noting that it was not tough enough on Meta.
Separately this year, Meta was directed to pay New Mexico a total of $942 million in damages, after a two-phase trial centred on the company's safety protections for minors. In addition, the court also mandated Meta to roll out new safety measures, including age-verification technology and restrictions on how much time users can spend on its platforms.
