New Mexico Asks Judge to Impose Up to $40 Billion in Penalties on Meta Over Facebook Privacy Case

New Mexico asked a state judge to impose between $35 billion and $40 billion in civil penalties on Meta after a jury found the company misled consumers about Facebook data privacy. The penalty request was filed in late September 2026, following a jury verdict on September 25 that established Meta's liability.

Attorneys for New Mexico argued that Meta committed more than 43 million violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. The statute allows up to $5,000 per violation. The state sought a reduced figure it said would survive appellate review while still sending a deterrent signal.

Meta countered that any penalty should not exceed $3.45 billion. The company argued that the statements cited at trial were selective and that the state's calculation overstated the number of violations.

Judge Francis Mathew, who presided over the trial in Santa Fe, will set the final penalty amount. The September 25 jury verdict established liability. The penalty phase is now determining how much Meta must pay.

The case is rooted in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from tens of millions of Facebook users was harvested without their consent and used for political advertising. The scandal became public in 2018 and led to congressional hearings, regulatory investigations, and a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

New Mexico's case argues that Meta made misleading statements to consumers about how their data was being protected. If the judge imposes a penalty in the range the state is seeking, it would be one of the largest consumer protection judgments in U.S. history.

Meta said it plans to appeal any significant penalty. The company has faced privacy-related legal actions in multiple states and countries since the Cambridge Analytica revelations.