Meta fined for campaign finance violations
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, was fined nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance law.
A Washington state judge for the King County Superior Court ruled on Wednesday that Meta must pay the maximum penalty of $24.66 million for more than 800 violations of the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act.
The fine is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in US history.
"I have one word for Facebook’s conduct in this case — arrogance,” said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D). “It intentionally disregarded Washington’s election transparency laws.”
The transparency law requires ad sellers such as Meta to keep and make public the names and addresses of those who buy political ads, the target of such ads, how the ads were paid for and the total number of views of each ad.
Ad sellers must provide the information to anyone who asks for it.
But Meta has repeatedly objected to the requirements, although Facebook does keep an archive of political ads that run on the platform.
Meta unsuccessfully argued in court that the law is unconstitutional because it “unduly burdens political speech” and is “virtually impossible to fully comply with."
Ferguson, in response, urged "Facebook to come to its senses, accept responsibility, apologize for its conduct, and comply with the law.”
"That’s breathtaking. Where’s the corporate responsibility?" Ferguson said.
Washington's attorney general’s office sued Meta in 2018 for not producing campaign advertising records.
Meta was required to pay $238,000 and commit to transparency in campaign finance and advertising.
The company, however, continued to run political ads in Washington without keeping the required information, causing Ferguson to sue again in 2020, according to the state.
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