The case brought by New Mexico alleged that Facebook violated the state’s Unfair Practices Act nearly 44 million times by misusing personal information collected through the platform, misrepresenting to consumers its data practices, and failing to address misinformation and hate speech, the New Mexico Department of Justice said in a Wednesday press release.
The case involved Facebook’s conduct in the Cambridge Analytica case, according to the release. PYMNTS reported in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica accessed the data on 87 million Facebook users without their permission and later shut down during the scandal.
“We took on one of the largest companies in the world because New Mexicans deserve honesty, accountability and the protection of their personal information,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in the release. “Today’s result makes clear that no corporation is too powerful to be held accountable.”
Reached by PYMNTS, Meta provided an emailed statement in which its chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said the company is confident it will prevail on appeal.
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“This ruling, and the Attorney General’s approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico,” Mahoney said. “At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online. We are confident we will prevail on appeal.”
“In the meantime, Meta will continue to build a safe and free platform to connect millions of Americans, grow small businesses and help the country maintain its competitive edge,” Mahoney said.
In another, separate case, it was reported in August that Meta reached a settlement with U.S. states in which it agreed to pay as much as $16.68 billion and impose new restrictions on younger users of Facebook and Instagram.
That agreement resolved claims from 29 states that accused Meta of building features that encouraged compulsive use by children, misleading consumers about the safety of its services and improperly collecting minors’ personal information.
Meta denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The New Mexico Department of Justice said in its Wednesday press release that it will “continue to pursue accountability when companies engage in deceptive or unlawful business practices.”
Torrez said in the release that the case in which the ruling was announced Wednesday “has always been about more than one company or one scandal. It is about whether corporations can mislead consumers about what happens to their personal information without facing meaningful consequences.”
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