New Mexico launches trial against Meta over 2016 data-harvesting scandal
A state court in Santa Fe has begun a trial accusing Meta’s Facebook platform of allowing a quiz that harvested data from millions of users and sold it to Cambridge Analytica.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a state court commenced a trial that accuses Meta’s Facebook service of facilitating a massive data breach linked to the 2016 election. Prosecutors claim a personality-quiz app on the platform harvested personal information from about 87 million users, which was then sold to the now-defunct political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. That firm used the data to create highly targeted political advertisements, including for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
New Mexico, the sole state to move forward with a case after a nationwide settlement on child-safety matters, is demanding the highest civil fines permitted under the state’s Unfair Practices Act—up to $5,000 per violation—and a court order to prevent future data misuse. The trial, expected to run about four weeks, will feature a video deposition of Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The state estimates that roughly 350,000 New Mexicans were affected by the breach.
