Posted on 10/26/2022 9:27:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state judge on Wednesday fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in U.S. history.
The penalty issued by King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North was the maximum allowed for more than 800 violations of Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, passed by voters in 1972 and later strengthened by the Legislature. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that the maximum was appropriate considering his office previously sued Facebook in 2018 for violating the same law.
Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Washington’s 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. Television stations and newspapers have complied with the law for decades.
But Meta has repeatedly objected to the requirements, arguing unsuccessfully in court that the law is unconstitutional because it “unduly burdens political speech” and is “virtually impossible to fully comply with.” While Facebook does keep an archive of political ads that run on the platform, the archive does not disclose all the information required under Washington’s law.
“I have one word for Facebook’s conduct in this case — arrogance,” Ferguson said in a news release. “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?”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
FIE ping!
The requirements don’t appear to be that difficult to meet....
Washington is very blue. Why did the state AG sue FB?
They spent 500 million on the 2020 election. The fine was 24 million....or 4% of their vote rigging expenditure. They laugh at this.
Facebook doesn’t have a “smiley face” on it anymore!!
META posted its 2nd revenue decline in a row. Shares fell 5.6% Wed., and another 20% drop after hours following the quarterly revenue report.
FartBook is incredibly corrupt and nothing more than a high tech Soros
Just another campaign donation.
Doesn’t even register as a slap on the wrist for what has been a Deep State front company all along.
$24.7 million ain't squat. Getting dems elected, priceless
Conspiracy does not imply loyalty.
The AG gets a 24 million dollar feather in his cap before his next run for office, which will probably be for governor or senator. Rats will eat each other when they see fit.
““unduly burdens political speech”
So is censoring conservative speech on your platform.
META posted its 2nd revenue decline in a row. Shares fell 5.6% Wed., and another 20% drop after hours following the quarterly revenue report.
—
Facebook -> Faceplant
I guess I am surprised that WA AG doesn’t act like Garland, who generally makes his prosecutions against Trump allies.
He probably can't find any. It's Washington after all.
$4.4 BILLION quarterly net income. They probably paid the fine with their loose change.
This is the Farcebook Is Evil ping list.
h/t SC DOC
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