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Photo: The Canadian Press
FILE – The Facebook logo is seen on a cellphone on Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. A Washington state judge on Wednesday, October 26, fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly $25 million for violating financial disclosure laws on the project, in what it said it was the largest capital punishment in US history. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
Facebook parent company Meta has been ordered to pay $10.5 million in legal fees to the state of Washington on top of a nearly $25 million fine for violating financial disclosure laws on the project.
King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North issued the legal-fee order Friday, two days after he slapped the social media group with what it said was the largest fine for the money. campaign in American history, the Seattle Times said.
North Korea ordered the company to pay by wire transfer, check or money order within 30 days. The money must go to the Public Disclosure Commission, which enforces financial laws. orders.
North issued the maximum fine allowed for more than 800 violations of Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, which was approved by voters in 1972 and later strengthened by the Constitution. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that the maximum was reasonable before his office sued Facebook in 2018 for violating the same law.
Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, the newspaper said.
The company previously said it was evaluating its options for a settlement.
Washington’s landmark law requires ad vendors like Meta to keep and disclose the names and addresses of those who buy political ads, the target of those ads, how the ads are priced and total views of each post. Advertisers must provide information to people who request it. Television stations and newspapers have been complying with the law for decades.
But Meta has repeatedly objected to the provisions, arguing unsuccessfully in court that the law is unconstitutional because “the political content is too heavy” and “it cannot be fully implemented.” Although Facebook keeps a record of the political ads that run on the platform, the report does not show all the information required under Washington law.
In 2018, after Ferguson’s first trial, Facebook agreed to pay $238,000 and make efforts to increase transparency in campaign funding and political ads. It later said it would stop selling political ads in the state rather than meet the requirements.
However, the company continued to buy political ads, and Ferguson again campaigned in 2020.
Meta, one of the world’s richest companies, reported quarterly earnings on Wednesday of $4.4 billion, or $1.64 per share, on revenue of nearly $28 billion, in in the three months ended September 30.
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