The New Mexico Department of Justice says a Santa Fe jury found 43,899,725 violations of the state’s Unfair Practices Act. On September 25, the Department of Justice said the judge would decide the penalty for each violation in a later phase, up to $5,000 per willful violation.
On September 25, 2026, a Santa Fe jury tied 2,100,000 willful violations of New Mexico law to one Mark Zuckerberg statement. The First Judicial District Court’s special verdict form records the findings statement by statement. It is a liability verdict, and Question 1 quotes Zuckerberg: “You have control over how your information is shared.” The New Mexico Department of Justice, under Attorney General Raúl Torrez, puts the full count at 43,899,725 and the ceiling at $5,000 for each willful violation, and says the amount is left to the judge in a later phase.
The first question put Zuckerberg’s May 24, 2010, statement before the jury. The form gives its source as “From Facebook, Answering Privacy Concerns with New Settings,” in the Washington Post, trial exhibit PX 7. Beyond the assurance about control, the statement said Facebook did not share personal information with unwanted people or services, give advertisers access to it, or sell any of it. The jurors checked “yes” when asked whether the State had proved an unfair or deceptive trade practice. They checked “yes” again on willfulness. On the line for the number of violations, they wrote **2,100,000**.
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Question 2 followed the same sequence. It quoted Zuckerberg’s April 4, 2018, statement from a Meta Newsroom item, “Q&A with Mark Zuckerberg on Protecting People's Information,” trial exhibit PX 8: “There are other internet companies or data brokers or folks that might try to track and sell data, but we don't buy and sell.” The jury again found that the State had proved a willful unfair or deceptive trade practice. This time it wrote **1,386,648** violations.
Those two entries show the move inside the verdict. For each of the two quoted statements, the jury was asked whether Facebook engaged in an unfair or deceptive trade practice, whether it did so willfully, and how many violations belonged to that statement. The Department of Justice says the verdict answers only liability and the number of violations; the dollar amount is for the judge. The form’s final page says at least 10 jurors agreed on each question.
The two quoted statements were only part of the case. The Albuquerque Journal’s account of the Santa Fe trial reported that jurors weighed 29 statements and found 26 false or deceptive. On the final pages of the form, the jury also marked willful unconscionable trade practices in questions concerning the State’s allegations about Facebook’s statements on misinformation, hate speech, preferential treatment, and its App Developer Investigation. The Department of Justice says the case centered on what the State alleged was a broader pattern of misleading New Mexicans about privacy practices, content moderation, and the response to misuse of user data. It calls the case the first state-led case of its kind to reach a jury verdict at trial. Its release gives the overall jury count as **43,899,725**.
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The Department of Justice says Facebook’s potential financial exposure could reach “into the billions.” It says the actual penalty amount “is left entirely to the judge’s discretion and will be determined in a later phase of the case.” The release puts no single dollar figure on the count.
The distinction governs the money now at stake. The jury found liability and returned violation counts. It did not award any civil penalty in this verdict. The State is seeking the maximum civil penalties available under the Unfair Practices Act and an injunction to prevent similar practices. The release says the judge will schedule further proceedings before ruling on either request.
*Analysis:* The form records violation counts for the two quoted statements. The Department of Justice reports the overall count and says the judge will decide the penalty amount. On September 25, the Department of Justice said the judge would decide the penalty amount for each violation in a later phase.
A Meta spokesperson said the company disagrees with the verdict, the Albuquerque Journal reported on September 25. The Journal also reported that Meta attorney Dane Butswinkas argued in closing that New Mexico’s case relied on a data breach from more than a decade earlier and did not reflect safeguards the company had put in place since. “Here we are in 2026,” Butswinkas told jurors, according to the Journal. That was the defense position before jurors returned the violation counts.
Torrez framed the verdict in the release as a warning: “Let this be a warning to every technology company doing business in our state.”
The same Journal account reported that the verdict came after two weeks of testimony before Judge Francis Mathew, and that Mathew plans to hold hearings for the two sides to argue the potential judgment. The Journal also reported that the State’s lead trial lawyer, Randi McGinn, said Meta is almost certain to appeal and that New Mexico is unlikely to collect until the appeal is resolved. The State’s release sets no date for that later phase.
The State has its count. On September 25, the Department of Justice said the First Judicial District Court would decide penalties and the State’s requested injunction in later proceedings. The jury’s counts are on the form. The court’s dollar figure, if any, comes in that later phase.
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