Facebook is facing trial in New Mexico over privacy allegations tied to the 2016 election, when a political consulting firm acquired user information gathered from millions of profiles and used it to help create targeted political advertising.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin Wednesday in state court in Santa Fe. The trial comes only weeks after 48 U.S. states entered into a major settlement with Meta addressing child safety and privacy concerns across the company’s platforms. Florida was the only other state to stay out of that agreement, arguing it did not go far enough in holding the social media giant accountable.
“Facebook’s data breach didn’t just expose private information, it revealed a pattern of misrepresentation about how user data was collected, shared, and exploited,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement Tuesday.
New Mexico has so far been the only state to steer the case toward trial, reflecting its decision to pursue a separate legal path against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
According to court filings, the state alleges Facebook failed to warn users or shield them from a personality quiz on the platform that collected data from about 87 million Facebook profiles and sold it to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm.
That information was later used to build targeted ads during the 2016 presidential race. Cambridge Analytica, which has since shut down, counted Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign among its clients. Facebook generates almost all of its revenue through advertising sales.
The trial is expected to run for roughly four weeks and will feature a video deposition from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. New Mexico is asking for the maximum civil penalties available under the state’s Unfair Practices Act — up to $5,000 for each violation — along with an injunction intended to prevent future breaches of user data.
State officials estimate that approximately 350,000 New Mexico residents were affected by the data breach.
In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle the multistate suit surrounding child safety issues. Buried in the 130-page settlement was an agreement to release Meta from future liability related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, making New Mexico the only state to pursue a case.
Earlier this year, New Mexico secured a total of $942 million from Meta in a two-phase trial about the company’s safety protections for minors. The court also ordered Meta to implement new safeguards, including age verification technology and time limits on its platforms.
___ Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
