Tech giant Meta Platforms Inc. has been fined $24.6 million for violating Washington state’s campaign finance transparency laws in a victory for state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who had asked that the judge impose the maximum penalty.
Judge Douglass North of King County Superior Court ruled on Wednesday that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, intentionally violated Washington law 822 times between 2019 and 2021, according to court documents (pdf).
The judge ruled that Meta failed to display for public inspection all of the information required under the state’s commercial advertiser law.
Because the violations were deemed intentional, they each carried a maximum fine of $30,000. In total, the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg was ordered to pay $24.7 million….