A Santa Fe jury found on September 25, 2026 that Facebook, now Meta Platforms, committed 43,899,725 violations of New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act through misleading statements about user privacy, hate speech and misinformation, and its investigation of apps after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. A judge will set the penalty later; the case is a state enforcement action, not a class action, and there is nothing for consumers to claim.
Not a Class Action · Nothing to Claim
This article reports a jury verdict in a lawsuit brought by the State of New Mexico. It is not a class action: no class was certified, there is no claim form, and any penalty is paid to the State, not to Facebook users. The verdict decides liability only. No penalty has been set, and Meta says it disagrees with the verdict. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What the Jury Decided
On September 25, 2026, after a two-week trial in Santa Fe, a jury in State of New Mexico v. Facebook, Inc., Case No. D-101-CV-2021-00132, in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico, Santa Fe County, found that Facebook committed 43,899,725 violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. According to the New Mexico Department of Justice, the jury found the violations willful, and found that Facebook knowingly made false or misleading statements or acted unconscionably.The New Mexico Department of Justice filed the case on January 21, 2021. It calls the result the first state-led case of its kind to reach a jury verdict. Judge Francis Mathew presided, and jurors watched video depositions of Mark Zuckerberg and former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
The verdict settles only whether Facebook broke the law and how many times. The judge, not the jury, decides the penalty and whether to order changes to Facebook's practices.
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Which Facebook Statements the Jury Found Misleading
The State challenged public statements by Facebook and its executives in three areas. The jury found violations in each:- Data privacy: statements assuring users that they controlled how their information was shared, that Facebook did not sell or provide their personal information to advertisers, and that it did not buy or sell user data.
- Misinformation and hate speech: statements that Facebook did not profit from misinformation or hate, removed harmful misinformation, had no incentive to keep hateful content, and applied its Community Standards consistently, with no special protections for particular groups and no exceptions for politicians or newsworthiness.
- The post-Cambridge Analytica app investigation: promises to investigate apps that had accessed large amounts of user data, conduct forensic audits, ban developers who misused data, and notify people whose information may have been affected.
The jury did not side with the State on everything. Reuters reported that jurors found 26 of the 29 statements identified by the State misleading. Bloomberg Law and the Associated Press described 34 statements on the verdict sheet. All three outlets report that jurors rejected the State's claims about Facebook's content-removal statements, including its removal of graphic content, hate speech and COVID-19 misinformation.
Bloomberg Law reported that the jury found between 1.3 million and 2.1 million violations for each statement, figures that track either the number of Facebook users in New Mexico or the state's total 2020 population.
How Much Could Meta Pay?
No penalty has been set. Under the Unfair Practices Act, a court may impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each willful violation. At the maximum, 43,899,725 violations multiply out to about $219.5 billion, and Attorney General Raúl Torrez told reporters the State will ask for the maximum. The amount is left to Judge Mathew's discretion, and the maximum is a ceiling, not a forecast.The State is also asking for an injunction to stop similar practices. The Associated Press reported that Torrez said a decision was expected within weeks and that any money awarded would go to a fund for New Mexico's education system. As of September 26, 2026, the penalty hearing had not been scheduled.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said the company disagrees with the verdict and will continue to defend itself, citing a First Amendment right to manage its platforms. At trial, Facebook's lawyers argued that the State's evidence was outdated and that the company has changed its policies since the suit was filed.
Will Consumers Get Any of the Money?
No. Based on the case filings and statements available as of September 26, 2026, no part of a penalty in this case is set to be paid to Facebook users, in New Mexico or anywhere else:- It is not a settlement. Meta did not settle this case. The jury decided liability, and the judge will impose a civil penalty, which is a fine paid to the State.
- The State is the only plaintiff. The New Mexico Department of Justice brought the case on the State's behalf. No class of consumers was certified, so there is no claim form, no class list and no payment process for individuals.
- The money is earmarked for the State. Attorney General Raúl Torrez has said any money awarded would go to a fund for New Mexico's education system.
- The multistate payment does not go to consumers either. The $459,293,017.80 Cambridge Analytica payment in Meta's August 2026 multistate deal resolves claims brought by states and territories, and is paid to them, not to individual users.
The only Cambridge Analytica-era case that paid Facebook users directly was the $725 million consumer class action, In re Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation. Its claim deadline has passed, and this verdict does not reopen it or add to those payments. Anyone who filed a claim in that settlement can check its status on our $725 million Facebook user privacy settlement page.
The benefit to consumers from this case, if any, would come from an injunction: the State is asking the court to bar Facebook from similar practices in the future. The judge has not ruled on that request.
Why New Mexico Went to Trial Alone
In August 2026, Meta reached a multistate settlement of roughly $17 billion over child safety on Instagram and Facebook. Inside that agreement was a separate $459,293,017.80 payment to resolve Cambridge Analytica-era claims of 46 states and two territories, in exchange for a broad release of those claims.New Mexico and Washington, D.C. did not join that Cambridge Analytica release, according to Bloomberg Law, which is why New Mexico's case went to a jury while most states' claims were resolved. The District of Columbia's separate case against Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg is still pending.
The Cambridge Analytica Background
From 2013 to 2015, researcher Aleksandr Kogan ran a Facebook personality-quiz app called "thisisyourdigitallife." About 270,000 people took the quiz, but Facebook's platform let the app also collect data on those users' friends. According to the State, data on about 87 million users worldwide was collected, including roughly 70 million Americans and nearly 350,000 New Mexicans. Kogan sold the data to Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm whose clients included Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.The State says Facebook learned of the sale by December 2015. The public learned of it in March 2018, when a whistleblower came forward, and Facebook notified affected users the following month. At trial, the State argued that Facebook's misleading statements reached all of New Mexico's more than 2 million residents, not only the users whose data was collected.
Earlier cases over the same scandal were resolved without a trial. Facebook paid a $5 billion Federal Trade Commission penalty and a $100 million Securities and Exchange Commission settlement in 2019. It also paid a $725 million consumer class action settlement, which received final approval in October 2023, and a $190 million Delaware shareholder settlement in July 2025.
Two Different New Mexico Cases Against Meta
New Mexico has won jury verdicts against Meta in two separate lawsuits in 2026, and they are easy to confuse:- Child safety (Case No. D-101-CV-2023-02838): filed in 2023. A jury ordered $375 million in March 2026, and in August 2026 the judge ordered a $567 million abatement fund and new protections for minors, for $942 million in total. See our New Mexico child-safety verdict coverage.
- Cambridge Analytica and privacy statements (Case No. D-101-CV-2021-00132): filed in 2021, the case covered on this page. Liability was decided September 25, 2026; the penalty is pending.
Neither case is a class action, and neither pays consumers directly.
Questions
Can I file a claim or get money from the New Mexico Facebook verdict?
No. State of New Mexico v. Facebook is an enforcement lawsuit brought by the New Mexico Department of Justice, not a class action. There is no class, no claim form and no consumer payment. Any civil penalty is paid to the State; Attorney General Raúl Torrez has said the money would go to a fund for the state's education system.
How much will Meta have to pay New Mexico?
That has not been decided. The jury found 43,899,725 violations, and the Unfair Practices Act allows a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each willful violation, which multiplies out to about $219 billion. Judge Francis Mathew sets the actual amount at his discretion in a later phase, and the State is also asking for an injunction. Meta says it disagrees with the verdict.
Is this the same as the $725 million Facebook privacy settlement?
No. The $725 million settlement resolved a separate consumer class action, In re Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation in federal court in California. Its claim deadline has passed and payments are handled by that settlement's administrator. The New Mexico verdict does not change those payments or reopen that claim process. For payment status, see our $725 million Facebook user privacy settlement page.
Why did New Mexico go to trial when other states settled?
Meta's August 2026 multistate settlement over child safety included a separate $459,293,017.80 payment resolving Cambridge Analytica-era claims of 46 states and two territories. New Mexico and Washington, D.C. did not join that portion, so New Mexico's 2021 case went to trial on September 8, 2026.
Is this the same New Mexico case as the $375 million Meta child-safety verdict?
No. That is a different lawsuit, State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms, Case No. D-101-CV-2023-02838, filed in 2023 over child safety. The Cambridge Analytica case is Case No. D-101-CV-2021-00132, filed January 21, 2021, and was tried separately.
Sources
• New Mexico Department of Justice: Jury Finds Facebook Violated New Mexico Consumer Protection Law (September 25, 2026), with the redacted jury form• New Mexico Department of Justice: State of New Mexico v. Facebook pre-trial media fact sheet
• State of New Mexico v. Facebook, Inc., Case No. D-101-CV-2021-00132, First Judicial District Court of New Mexico, Santa Fe County
• Reuters: Meta misled consumers in case over Cambridge Analytica scandal, New Mexico jury says (September 25, 2026)
• Bloomberg Law: Meta Loses New Mexico Trial, Could See $219 Billion Penalty (September 25, 2026)
• Associated Press, via the Tri-City Record: New Mexico jury finds Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections (September 25, 2026)
• Tech Policy Press: The $459 Million Cambridge Analytica Reckoning Buried in Meta's Teen Safety Settlement (August 27, 2026)
