Facebook trial reaches closing arguments over alleged New Mexico user data misuse

(KVIA) -- Wednesday, the state of New Mexico and Facebook delivered closing arguments in the state's case about Facebook's alleged misuse of New Mexico users' personal information. The jury's next step is to enter deliberation.

The case also concerned the Cambridge Analytica data breach, which allegedly took data from millions of Facebook profiles to generate ads.

New Mexico presented testimony from Facebook executives and expert witnesses. They focused on how user data was handled and shared.

"But all of these statements took advantage of our lack of knowledge because we couldn't tell easily whether it was true or not. And that makes it unconscionable. And the other thing that makes it unconscionable is that it was a coordinated strategy, as Dr. Matheson talked about. It wasn't a mistake," the state argued.

During his deposition, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the goal of Facebook's ad system is to "show people relevant content in advertising."

"I would assume that most people who are using the service by 2010 would have seen the ads and recognized that they were personalized either to the community that the person was in or to interests that they had," Zuckerberg said.

The CEO added that he thought people knew they used an app and "sharing information" with it.