CyberNew CyberNew
Threat Intelligence & APT The Record 2 weeks ago

New Mexico jury finds Meta deceived consumers about data privacy practices

CN
CyberNew Threat Research Desk
• Original Reporting: The Record
CyberNew Threat Intel Assessment
Assessed Severity: INFORMATIONAL
Impacted Surface
Enterprise Perimeter & Network Defense
Intelligence Sector
Threat Intelligence & APT

Analyst Takeaway

"A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook violated the law nearly 44 million times by lying to consumers about its data privacy practices. The amount of damages the Meta-owned tech giant will ultimately pay will be determined by a judge in the coming weeks, but the verdict could cost Meta billions because each violation of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act carries up to $5,000 in civil..."

Recommended Defense & Mitigation

  • Threat Monitoring: Ingest published IOCs into SIEM/EDR detection rules for continuous telemetry monitoring.
  • Security Awareness: Alert staff and maintain baseline endpoint hardening across endpoints.
Curated & Verified by CyberNew Threat Intelligence Desk Standard Defense Framework (NIST / MITRE ATT&CK)
Facebook
Image: Zulfugar Karimov / Unsplash

New Mexico jury finds Meta deceived consumers about data privacy practices

A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook violated the law nearly 44 million times by lying to consumers about its data privacy practices.

The amount of damages the Meta-owned tech giant will ultimately pay will be determined by a judge in the coming weeks, but the verdict could cost Meta billions because each violation of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act carries up to $5,000 in civil penalties. 

The jury found that Facebook misled consumers by telling them they controlled how their information was shared and that it did not buy or sell users’ private data, particularly with advertisers. 

Jurors also held that Facebook’s statements about hate speech and misinformation were “willfully deceptive,” according to a press release from the office of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.

Facebook promises the jury found to be lies included claims that it did not profit from misinformation or hate, that it deleted “harmful” misinformation from the platform, that it did not tolerate hate speech and that it had no incentive to retain hateful content.

Source Verification & Original Intelligence

This threat report was reviewed by CyberNew analysts and cross-referenced with primary security disclosures from The Record.

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