New Mexico is seeking between $35 billion and $40 billion in penalties from Meta Platforms after a jury found that Facebook misled consumers about how their personal data was handled. The case adds another significant legal risk for one of the world’s largest technology companies and highlights the growing financial consequences of data privacy and platform-governance disputes.

New Mexico Seeks Billions After Jury Verdict

The request follows a September 25 jury verdict in Santa Fe that found Meta responsible for more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. Jurors examined 29 statements made by Meta and its leadership and determined that 26 were misleading.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021, focused on claims that Meta misrepresented who could access Facebook users’ data and how the company handled misinformation and hate speech. The case grew out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users was obtained through a third-party application without their consent.

Penalty Could Reach Far Beyond the Initial Request

New Mexico law allows civil penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation. Applying the maximum amount to more than 43 million violations could have produced a substantially larger figure than the $35 billion–$40 billion sought by the state.

New Mexico’s attorneys have argued that the requested amount represents a significant penalty while taking constitutional due-process considerations into account. Meta, however, has described the proposed penalty as excessive and asked the judge to limit the financial exposure to $3.45 billion.

The final amount will be determined by Judge Francis Mathew, who presided over the trial. The judge is expected to issue a ruling later in October.

Meta Faces a Broader Legal and Regulatory Challenge

The New Mexico case comes as Meta continues to face scrutiny over privacy, content moderation and the treatment of younger users. The company has disputed the allegations in the privacy case, arguing that its statements were taken out of context and that the evidence did not establish that consumers were actually misled.

The potential scale of the penalty also illustrates how regulatory and legal exposure can become financially significant for major technology companies. Data protection cases can involve not only direct financial penalties but also requirements to change disclosures, internal controls and data-management practices.

Meta’s legal exposure in New Mexico is already substantial. In August, a separate New Mexico ruling brought the company’s financial liability in an earlier child-safety case to $942 million, including a $375 million civil penalty and $567 million in remedies.

The next major development will be Judge Mathew’s decision on the $35 billion–$40 billion request. Investors will also monitor whether Meta appeals the ruling, how any final penalty compares with the company’s proposed $3.45 billion cap, and whether the case encourages similar privacy actions in other jurisdictions. The outcome could provide an important reference point for the financial risks technology companies face when courts find that consumer-protection laws were violated.