New Mexico seeks up to $40 billion fine from Meta over privacy violations

October 2, 2026 at 04:21 AM2 min

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New Mexico has asked a court to order Meta Platforms to pay between $35 billion and $40 billion in penalties after a jury found the company made misleading statements about Facebook user privacy. The request follows a September 25 verdict that Meta committed more than 43 million violations of state consumer protection law. Judge Francis Mathew is expected to rule on the final penalty later this month.

Key Facts

New Mexico filed the lawsuit in 2021 after Cambridge Analytica collected personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users without consent.
The jury found 26 of 29 Meta statements misleading and calculated more than 43 million violations of state consumer protection law.
Meta asked the court to cap the penalty at $3.45 billion, arguing it does not sell user data and no consumer was actually misled.
Judge Francis Mathew is expected to issue a decision on the final penalty later this month.

Jury Verdict

The jury delivered its verdict on September 25 after reviewing 29 statements by Meta and its executives concerning third-party access to user data, hate speech, disinformation, and internal policies. It found 26 of those statements misleading. The jury calculated more than 43 million violations of New Mexico's consumer protection law based on the number of Facebook users or state residents to whom each misleading statement was directed.

Penalty Positions

State law allows a judge to set a penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation. New Mexico representative Randi McGinn said the maximum penalty would be excessive under constitutional due process guarantees, but argued that $35 billion to $40 billion would be about 20% of the possible maximum and should affect the company. Meta attorney Matt Nicholson called the state's demand an astronomical penalty that would violate constitutional provisions. In court documents, Meta asked for the penalty to be capped at $3.45 billion and argued it does not sell user data and that the state had not proven any consumer was actually misled.