Facebook accused of deceiving users in New Mexico as trial over privacy scandal wraps up

Closing arguments have taken place in a New Mexico trial over Facebook's alleged failure to protect users from a third-party quiz that harvested data from 87 million profiles Attorneys representing New Mexico accused Facebook of deceiving users about privacy protections on the social media platform and encouraged jurors during closing arguments Wednesday to find the company liable for thousands of violations of state law. Jurors heard two weeks of evidence and must now decide whether Facebook violated the state’s Unfair Practices Act and if so, how many times.

It would then be up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay per violation. New Mexico is the only state that has taken the data breach claims to trial as part of its go-it-alone approach to press for more accountability from Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. Earlier this year 48 states reached a landmark settlement with Meta that addressed child safety concerns and privacy issues surrounding the same data breach.

New Mexico is seeking the maximum civil penalties, up to $5,000 per violation, and an injunction to halt future breaches of user data. The case centers on accusations that Facebook failed to protect users 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.

“We became the product for Facebook. They turned our dreams into data they could sell to advertisers,” said Randi McGinn, an attorney for the state. Attorneys for the social media company disputed that claim, telling jurors the platform does not sell user information.

A majority of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising, and McGinn argued that the company was incentivized to provide targeted advertising opportunities. She said there was limited enforcement if third-party apps harvested users’ personal information and the company did not investigate whether those apps were owned by foreign countries or organizations. Dane Butswinkas, one of Facebook’s lawyers, said the platform investigated suspicious third-party apps following the breach.

He told jurors the company has improved safeguards and privacy policies significantly in the last five years, since the lawsuit was filed. Butswinkas said Facebook’s revenue and product development teams were kept separate and that despite having five years to investigate the platform’s privacy practices, the state identified only two data breaches.