A New Mexico judge ruled that Meta must pay $25 billion in civil penalties after a jury found more than 43 million violations of the state's unfair practices law tied to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The judge calculated the maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation, totaling over $219 billion, before reducing it to $25 billion. Meta's chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the company plans to appeal, calling the ruling an attempt to tax speech.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-21
Sceye, a New Mexico-based aerospace company, flew an uncrewed, helium-filled airship from the US to Japan and back over about a month between August and September 2026. The 270-foot platform operates near 60,000 feet, using solar panels and batteries to stay aloft continuously while testing its ability to function as an airborne cell phone tower. CEO Mikkel Frandsen said the craft can hold position above a target area through day and night cycles using onboard power and propulsion.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-19
Castelion, a startup founded by former SpaceX executives, is building a large hypersonic weapons manufacturing site near Rio Rancho Estates, New Mexico, set to open by year's end. Records reviewed by WIRED show an official hazard assessment concluding that buildings on site would be left to burn in a fire, releasing hydrochloric acid gas, with roughly 450 homes located close to the facility. Castelion has not answered basic safety questions from officials and declined to comment to WIRED.
wired.com
· 2026-10-09
After a jury found Meta misled Facebook users about data privacy in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, New Mexico's attorneys asked Judge Francis Mathew to impose penalties of $35 billion to $40 billion. The request follows a September 25 verdict in Santa Fe; Meta's lawyers argued the state's proposed sum is unconstitutional and urged a cap of $3.45 billion instead.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-03
Following a late-September jury verdict finding Meta violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act with misleading privacy statements tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, state attorneys have asked a judge to impose penalties of $35 billion to $40 billion. The jury found 26 of 29 examined Meta statements misleading, translating into roughly 43 million consumer-law violations based on the New Mexico Facebook users who saw them. Meta is urging the court to cap penalties at $3.45 billion, arguing no residents were shown to have actually been misled, with a ruling expected later this month.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-02
A jury in New Mexico ruled that Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act, finding 26 of 29 examined statements about user data protections were misleading, amounting to more than 43 million violations based on affected users. The case, brought by the state attorney general in 2021, also concerned Meta's response to the 2013 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from tens of millions of Facebook users was harvested via a personality-quiz app and used for targeted political ads in 2016.
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-26
A jury in Santa Fe ruled Facebook deceived users about privacy protections after a third-party quiz harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to Cambridge Analytica. Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about subsequent investigations into data brokers, tallying more than 2 million violations affecting New Mexico's population. A judge will now decide penalties, with state attorneys seeking the maximum $5,000 per violation.
cbsnews.com
· 2026-09-26
A New Mexico jury ruled that Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act, finding it misled residents about privacy protections and how it handled misinformation. The case stemmed from a 2021 lawsuit tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook user data was harvested and used for political ad targeting during the 2016 election. A judge has not yet determined the penalty Meta will face.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-25
Oracle issued a force majeure notice to the developer of its Project Jupiter data-center site in New Mexico, according to reporting on the project. The company has also dropped one key development partner amid the buildout, while local residents have pushed back against the project.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-25
Oracle Corp Japan reported record fiscal first-quarter results, with net sales up 13% to 74.86 billion yen and net profit up 23.2% to 18.25 billion yen for the June-August period. Cloud revenue rose 31.7%, now accounting for 33.6% of total sales, and the company kept its full-year sales growth outlook at 6-10%. The stock jump came even as Oracle's U.S.-listed shares fell more than 3% after the company issued a force majeure notice related to its New Mexico data center project.
cnbc.com
· 2026-09-25
The New Mexico Supreme Court held attorney Stephen Aarons in contempt and fined him $5,000 after he submitted an appellate brief containing fictitious police testimony and witnesses invented by ChatGPT. Aarons said he used the AI tool to summarize trial proceedings for a murder conviction appeal, claiming he didn't realize it could fabricate facts. The court is also referring him to a disciplinary board for further investigation.
slashdot.org
· 2026-09-15
The New Mexico Supreme Court found veteran defense attorney Stephen Aarons in direct contempt after he filed an appellate brief containing invented testimony from nonexistent witnesses, generated using ChatGPT. Aarons admitted he never verified the AI-produced content before submitting it in the appeal of client Oscar Renee Sandoval's murder conviction, nor did he tell his client about the errors. The case has been referred to a disciplinary board for further review.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-11
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