On Wednesday, a court fined Facebook’s parent company, Meta, around $25 million for violating a campaign disclosure statute in Washington state that dates back to the 1970s, resulting in more than 800 infractions.
A county superior court judge ordered that Meta must pay the maximum penalties under the legislation for more than $24.6 million for violating Washington law 822 times.
A county superior court judge ordered that Meta must pay the maximum penalties under the legislation for an astounding 822 offenses, totaling more than $24.6 million, for the tech company’s persistent breaches of Washington law.
Before adopting the Meta moniker, Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against Facebook in 2018 for violating the same campaign transparency legislation that mandates the disclosure of who purchases political advertising, which is targeted by those ads, and how often those ads are viewed. Instead of providing the needed disclosures, Facebook reportedly announced it will stop selling political advertising in Washington state, according to the Seattle Times. They didn’t, though.
The judge who imposed the $25 million fine on Meta, Douglass North, criticized the corporation for its “lack of good faith and inability to admit and accept responsibility for its crimes.” The corporation should have known better, North said, given Meta’s extensive involvement in political advertising and that it had been sued for similar crimes in 2018 and then announced it would cease selling political advertisements in the state before continuing to infringe the law.
The attorney general said that Facebook (now known as Meta) “actively ignored Washington’s election transparency regulations,” as reported by The Seattle Times. “Please help me get Facebook to stop being so irresponsible, apologize for its actions, and start acting following the law. If Facebook doesn’t comply, we will sue them again and win, “Ferguson promised, suggesting that Meta may potentially file an appeal.