Facebook has been found liable by a New Mexico jury for misleading its users regarding privacy protections across the social media service.
Following the verdict on Friday, a judge will now decide the financial penalty, with state legal representatives requesting the maximum fine of $5,000 for each individual violation.
The legal proceedings in Santa Fe lasted two weeks, focusing on claims that the platform lied to users over a major data breach.
The incident involved an external personality quiz app that harvested information from around 87 million profiles.
That data was subsequently sold to Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that created targeted advertisements, counting the 2016 Donald Trump campaign among its clients.
Jurors agreed with state prosecutors, determining that the social media giant's neglect in safeguarding user information affected the state's entire population of over two million residents.
Furthermore, the jury concluded that Facebook deceived the public regarding its inquiries into data brokers after the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica controversy, holding the business responsible for more than two million separate violations.
In closing arguments, defense attorneys for Facebook maintained that New Mexico relied on stale evidence.
They argued that despite a five-year investigation period, state officials uncovered only a single additional data breach instance.
In August, parent company Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement resolving a separate multistate lawsuit over youth safety matters.
Contained within that 130-page document was a clause releasing Meta from future legal claims linked to the Cambridge Analytica breach.
This left New Mexico as the sole state taking legal action, as Florida also declined to sign the deal, stating it was insufficiently strict on Meta.
This outcome follows another recent legal victory for New Mexico, where courts awarded $942 million in judgments against Meta across a two-part trial concerning minor safety controls.
That court decision additionally mandated that Meta introduce enhanced safety features, such as age-checking tools and platform time caps.
Material for this report was contributed by a corps member for the Associated Press and Report for America Statehouse News Initiative, a national nonprofit service placing journalists in local newsrooms.
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