The case concerns the so-called Cambridge Analytica scandal, which broke in 2018. It emerged that the consulting firm gained access to the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users by paying a company that developed apps for the platform.
During the trial, the prosecution argued, among other things, that the company’s public statements about the platform’s privacy protections had misled the entire population of the state, not just Facebook users.
According to Raúl Torrez, the state’s attorney general, the fine in the state verdict is “one of the largest, if not the largest, ever imposed on a company in the United States.”
This outcome should be a signal, an unambiguous message, to Silicon Valley, says Torrez, adding that the money should go towards educational efforts.
In the legal aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, many states chose to join forces and reach a settlement with Meta. New Mexico opted out and instead took the case to court.
