Misleading Privacy Claims Can Trigger Massive Consumer-Protection Liability

At a glance: A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for nearly 44 million deceptive trade practice violations based on misleading privacy and platform-safety statements—showing that public-facing privacy claims can create significant consumer-protection exposure.

On September 25, 2026, a jury in the State of New Mexico v. Facebook, Inc. trial found that Meta, formerly Facebook, violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act (UPA) almost 44 million times. The violations consisted of false and misleading statements that the social media company made to New Mexico consumers detailing how the company collected, protected, shared and used their personal information, as well as claims pertaining to Meta’s efforts to mitigate misinformation and hate speech on its platform.