SANTA FE, New Mexico: Meta faces potential civil penalties in New Mexico after a jury found that the company misled residents about Facebook's data practices and its policies on hate speech and misinformation.

The verdict came on Friday after a two-week trial in a lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general in 2021. The case arose from allegations that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm involved in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent.

News reports in 2018 revealed that the firm had harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app.

Jurors found that 26 of the 29 statements identified by New Mexico were misleading. They rejected the state's claims concerning Meta's statements about its efforts to remove harmful content and its fact-checking practices.

Judge Francis Mathew will determine civil penalties after the jury found more than 43 million violations, based on the number of people affected by the misleading statements. New Mexico law allows penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez said his office was evaluating how much to seek but would push for the maximum penalty based on the jury's findings. The state will also ask the judge to order changes that could include corrections to past statements and an audit of Meta's management of user data.

Meta disagreed with the verdict and said it would continue to defend itself "against efforts to distort our record."

"Meta's platforms are forums for free expression," a company spokesperson said. "We have a First Amendment right to manage those platforms in a way we believe best serves the interests of our community. This means prioritizing free speech, protecting our users' information and giving them control over their data."

New Mexico accused Meta of misleading residents about how it shared information with third parties and enforced its content policies. The state argued that Facebook failed to disclose that it sold user data to outside parties and allowed harmful content to spread when doing so benefited the company.

Meta denied selling users' information. Its attorneys argued that the statements cited by the state were taken out of context and that the company had acknowledged shortcomings in its handling of privacy and misinformation.

The verdict is the second against Meta in a New Mexico jury trial in six months. In March, a Santa Fe jury found that the company misled users about the safety of young people on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and ordered it to pay $375 million in civil penalties. A judge later directed Meta to pay $567 million into a state fund for teen mental health and implement measures to protect young users.