New Mexico jury finds Meta deceived consumers about data privacy practices
New Mexico brought its consumer protection law to bear on how social media companies describe their handling of user information. The lets the state attorney general sue businesses that engage in unfair or deceptive trade practices. Those practices include misrepresentations about what data is collected and who it is shared with. The suit against Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, was filed in 2022.
On September 28 2026 a state jury in Santa Fe returned a verdict that Meta had violated the law 43.8 million separate times. Each violation corresponded to an individual instance in which the company told New Mexico users that their data would remain private while routing it to third parties or using it for targeted advertising in ways the state said contradicted those statements.
The verdict now sets the amount of civil penalties a judge will impose. New Mexico law caps penalties at $5,000 per violation in some cases but allows higher amounts when the conduct is willful. The trial record also preserved Meta's arguments that its disclosures met federal standards and that the state lacked authority to second-guess platform design choices. The case stands on whether the judge treats the jury's findings as binding on the final penalty calculation.