Court: Meta Violated Washington State Campaign Finance Law

SEATTLE (AP) – The Washington state Attorney General’s Office says a judge has ruled that Facebook owner Meta repeatedly and intentionally violated Washington campaign-finance law, and must pay penalties.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office said Friday that the penalties are to be determined and that the court also denied Meta’s effort to invalidate Washington’s law on political ad transparency.

The Seattle Times reports the oral ruling happened during a hearing Friday before King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North.

In a statement, Ferguson said his office defeated Facebook’s “cynical attempt” to gut Washington’s campaign-finance transparency law.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.