Meta Found Willfully Violating New Mexico Unfair Practices Act

A New Mexico jury found willfully violated the state’s Unfair Practices Act 43,899,720 times, exposing the tech giant to a potential penalty of roughly $219.5 billion.

Jury Findings on Meta Misleading Practices

Jurors reviewed public statements from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, and other executives across five distinct categories. The panel found willful violations and unconscionable trade practices in every single category, determining that the company took advantage of New Mexicans‘ lack of knowledge to a grossly unfair degree. The examined areas included user control over data, misinformation, hate speech, equal enforcement of community standards, and Meta’s promised investigation following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez pointed out that Facebook spent years operating under the assumption that standard rules did not apply to its platform. According to Torrez, a jury of New Mexicans challenged that stance decisively. The Cambridge Analytica category generated the highest volume of infractions, accounting for more than 18.1 million violations. Following the British firm’s harvesting of Facebook user data to target 2016 election advertisements, Meta pledged to audit suspicious apps, ban developers who misused data, and notify all impacted individuals. Torrez noted that more than 350,000 New Mexicans may have been caught in that data harvest.

Potential Penalties and Next Steps in Santa Fe Court

District Judge Francis Mathew will determine the exact financial penalty per violation, which can reach up to $5,000, alongside any necessary operational changes. Torrez anticipates a formal ruling within weeks, though an appeal could extend the legal battle for two to three years while post-judgment interest accumulates. Under state law, civil penalties collected from such actions are directed into a fund that supports New Mexico public schools.

In March 2026, a separate jury ordered $375 million in penalties after finding that exposed children to predators and misled consumers about those risks. While Friday’s verdict does not distribute direct payouts to individual users, Torrez indicated that residents retain the right to pursue their own independent legal claims.