Posted by: Prapti Upadhayay
A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the social media platform. World News Sep 26, 2026 00:15 IST Published On Sep 26, 2026 00:15 IST Last Updated On Sep 26, 2026 00:15 IST Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion to settle lawsuit surrounding child safety issues. It is now up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay, with attorneys representing the state asking for the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation.
Jurors sided with prosecutors, finding Facebook’s failure to protect users’ data impacted New Mexico’s entire population of more than two million people. Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about investigations into data brokers following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, finding the company liable for over two million violations. During closing arguments, lawyers for Facebook claimed the state’s evidence was outdated and that despite having five years to gather material, New Mexico failed to find more than one other instance of a data breach. Florida was the only other state that did not sign the settlement, saying it was not tough enough on Meta. Furthermore, the court ordered Meta to implement new safeguards, including age-verification technology and time limits on its platforms. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) Show full article
The two-week trial in Santa Fe centred on accusations that Facebook deceived users about a data breach stemming from a third-party personality quiz that harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, to generate targeted ads. The now-defunct firm’s clients included the 2016 campaign for Donald Trump. Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion to settle the multistate lawsuit 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. Also this year, New Mexico won judgments totalling $942 million from Meta in a two-phase trial about the company’s safety protections for minors.
