Facebook trial over Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal begins in New Mexico

Facebook is on trial in New Mexico over privacy concerns that emerged during the 2016 election when a political consulting firm bought user data that was harvested from millions of profiles to generate targeted ads .

Opening statements will begin Wednesday in state court in Santa Fe, just weeks after 48 U.S. states reached a landmark settlement with Meta, which addressed child safety concerns and privacy issues on the company's platforms. Florida was the only other state that didn't sign the settlement, claiming it wasn't tough enough on the social media conglomerate.

“Facebook’s data breach didn’t just expose private information, it revealed a pattern of misrepresentation about how user data was collected, shared, and exploited,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement Tuesday.

So far, New Mexico is the only state that pushed the case toward a trial as part of its go-it-alone approach to prosecuting Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

In court documents, the state argues Facebook failed to alert or protect users from a personality quiz on the social platform that harvested data from roughly 87 million Facebook profiles and sold it to a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.

The data was used to generate targeted ads during the 2016 presidential election. The now-defunct firm’s clients included the 2016 campaign for Donald Trump. Facebook makes nearly all of its revenue from advertising sales.

The trial is expected to last around four weeks and will include a video deposition of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The state is seeking the maximum civil penalties under New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act, up to $5,000 per violation, and an injunction to halt future breaches of user data.

The state estimates around 350,000 New Mexicans were exposed to the data breach.

In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle the multi-state suit surrounding child safety issues. Buried in the 130-page settlement, the states agreed to release Meta from future liability related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, making New Mexico the only state to pursue a case.

Earlier this year, New Mexico secured a total of $942 million from Meta in a two-phase trial about the company’s safety protections for minors. The court also ordered Meta to implement new safeguards, including age verification technology and time limits on its platforms.

___ Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.