New Mexico asked a state court judge on Thursday to impose between 35 and 40 billion dollars in civil penalties against Meta Platforms Inc. in a case stemming from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Special prosecutor Randi McGinn made the request during a hearing in Santa Fe before Judge Francis Mathew. She argued that the amount, roughly 20 percent of the maximum possible under the jury's findings, would send a strong message to the company while respecting due process limits.

A jury on September 25 found Meta liable for more than 43.9 million violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. The violations involved 26 false or misleading statements about user data privacy, the company's response to the Cambridge Analytica incident, and some policies on hate speech and misinformation.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal involved a third-party app that harvested data from up to 87 million Facebook users without consent. The data was later used for political targeting, including for presidential campaigns.

Jurors calculated violations based on the number of New Mexico residents or Facebook users in the state around 2020, assigning between 1.3 million and 2.1 million violations per statement depending on how it was disseminated. New Mexico law allows up to 5,000 dollars per willful violation.

McGinn told the court that Meta has not learned its lesson and that the judge should speak to the company in the language of money and stock price impact. The state is also seeking injunctive relief to prevent future violations.

Meta argued at the hearing that the requested penalties do not align with the specific conduct emphasized during the trial. The company has previously disclosed potential exposure of around 62.85 billion dollars in securities filings.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez has pursued the case independently after most other states settled similar claims with Meta. This trial marks the second major victory for New Mexico against the company this year, following an earlier ruling that resulted in 942 million dollars in penalties and reforms related to child safety on its platforms.

Judge Mathew will determine the final penalty amount after considering arguments from both sides. The maximum theoretical penalty based on the jury verdict exceeds 219 billion dollars.