US Washington state court found Meta guilty of intentionally disregarding the state’s election transparency laws and fined a tripled penalty of US$24.6 million, which is a record in US history. According to Attorney General Bob Ferguson who filed the campaign finance transparency lawsuit against the social media behemoth, Facebook argued in court that the laws it is accused of violating should be declared unconstitutional.
Washington state requires internet companies like Meta that display political ads on their websites and in their apps, to keep records on these campaigns and make these details publicly available. This includes the cost of the advert and who paid for it along with information on which users were targeted and how far the ads reached, it is said.
On Wednesday, Judge Douglass North ordered Facebook to pay the maximum penalty ruling that Meta had intentionally violated Washington law 822 times, attracting a maximum of $30,000 per violation.
It is reported that Meta places identified Washington political ads and some information about them in an online, publicly available Ad Library. However, the Ad Library does not include all the information that Washington law requires advertisers to maintain and make available to the public about political ads in the state.
“I have one word for Facebook’s conduct in this case: arrogance,” Ferguson said. “It intentionally disregarded Washington’s election transparency laws. But that wasn’t enough. Facebook argued in court that those laws should be declared unconstitutional. That’s breathtaking. Where’s the corporate responsibility? I urge Facebook to come to its senses, accept responsibility, apologize for its conduct, and comply with the law. If Facebook refuses to do this, we will beat them again in court.”
Facebook will be obligated to pay an additional US$10.5 million, which includes tripled Attorney General’s costs and fees, as well as treble damages.
