Jury finds Facebook liable of deceiving users in Cambridge Analytica case

September 25, 2026 / 2:50 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the social media platform.

It is now up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay, with attorneys representing the state asking for the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation.

The two-week trial in Santa Fe centered on accusations that Facebook deceived users about a data breach stemming 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.

Jurors sided with prosecutors, finding Facebook's failure to protect users' data impacted New Mexico's entire population of more than 2 million people. The New Mexico Attorney General's office is expected to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. local time Friday to discuss the case.

Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about investigations into data brokers following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, finding the company liable for over 2 million violations.

During closing arguments, lawyers for Facebook claimed the state's evidence was outdated and that despite having…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/