New Mexico asked Judge Francis Mathew to order Meta to pay $35 billion to $40 billion in penalties in the state’s 2021 Cambridge Analytica lawsuit, after a Santa Fe jury found on September 25 that Facebook misled users about who could access their data. Jurors found 26 of 29 company statements misleading and counted more than 43 million violations of a consumer protection law that allows fines of up to $5,000 each. The state’s lawyer said charging the full amount would violate due process, so New Mexico asked for roughly 20% of the maximum. Meta wants the penalty capped at $3.45 billion, arguing that it doesn’t sell user data and the state never proved anyone was actually misled. Mathew expects to rule later this month.
