Years after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, New Mexico takes Facebook to trial
Harvested data of users was sold during 2016 US election and allegedly used in ads designed to reduce Democratic voter turnout
TL;DR
- New Mexico is suing Facebook in Santa Fe over the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.
- The state alleges Facebook failed to protect user data harvested by a personality quiz and sold to Cambridge Analytica.
- Cambridge Analytica allegedly used the data to target Democratic voters in the 2016 US election with messaging aimed at reducing turnout.
- Facebook's defense argues that its data protection safeguards have improved significantly since the 2016 breach.
- New Mexico is the only state pursuing this case to trial after 48 other states settled with Meta.
- The state is seeking maximum civil penalties and an injunction to prevent future data breaches.
- The trial is expected to last four weeks and will include a deposition from Mark Zuckerberg.