The ruling followed a September jury finding that Meta violated the state’s Unfair Practices Act more than 43 million times.
New Mexico sued Facebook, now Meta, in 2021. The state alleged that the company mishandled residents’ personal information and misled users about privacy practices. Facebook disclosed in 2018 that data from as many as 87 million users had been improperly obtained by Cambridge Analytica, which used it to build voter profiles.
Judge Francis Mathew described Meta’s conduct as a systematic pattern of deception in his penalty decision. Meta said it will appeal and argued that the state’s approach conflates privacy and speech issues.
The CNN report does not establish the ultimate enforceable amount: the judgment is subject to appeal. It also does not establish any new product, API, model, or access change for Meta’s AI services.