A judge ruled Wednesday to issue the maximum possible fine to Facebook's parent company, Meta, for intentionally violating the state's transparency laws.
. King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North issued the maximum possible fine for each instance, totaling up to $30,000 per violation.
Washington's election transparency laws require ad sellers like Meta to"disclose the names and addresses of political buys, the targets of such ads and the total number of viewers of each ad," according to a report from. North found that Meta had intentionally violated the standards, which have been in place since 1972.
Above, the Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a course graph on February 3, 2022, in Paris, France. Facebook's parent company, Meta, was fined nearly $25 million in Washington state court on Wednesday for violating election transparency laws.Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who originally brought the case against Meta, said in the report from the"It intentionally disregarded Washington's election transparency laws," Ferguson said.
Along with paying the fines, Meta was ordered in the suit to"come into full compliance" with the state's election transparency laws within the next 30 days. The court also demanded that an authorized person from Meta file a sworn certificate in 30 days stating that Meta followed the injunction. The company is also ordered to pay the attorney's fees in the case, which Ferguson has requested be tripled for a total of $10.5 million, reported theFerguson first sued Meta for violation of transparency laws in 2018 for a total of $200,000.