WA Fines Meta $35M For Violating Political Ads Rules

Courthouse News reports:

The Washington state Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Meta intentionally violated the state’s campaign finance law a whopping 822 times, affirming a lower court’s $35 million judgment against the company.

“This significant penalty is appropriate for a multinational corporation that intentionally violated our law and, instead of accepting responsibility, sought to gut our best-in-the-nation campaign finance law,” Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson [photo] said in a statement.

Under the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, social media platforms are required to maintain records of the political ads hosted on their sites, such as the cost and sponsor of the ad and information about ad targeting and reach. On appeal, Meta argued the law was unconstitutional.

Read the full article. Meta was previously accused of repeatedly allowing the Trump campaign to violate its political ads policies. Ferguson is Washington state’s incoming governor.

The Washington Court of Appeals today denied Meta’s attempt to gut our best-in-the-nation campaign finance law, and upheld our $35M judgment against the multinational corporation for intentionally violating Washington’s law. Read more: https://t.co/g1I0E3ORJ5 pic.twitter.com/ijeW9p4boh

— Attorney General Bob Ferguson (@AGOWA) December 3, 2024