A decide dominated on Friday that Fb proprietor Meta repeatedly and deliberately violated Washington marketing campaign finance regulation, and should pay penalties, the Washington state Lawyer Basic’s Workplace stated.

Lawyer Basic Bob Ferguson’s workplace stated the penalties shall be decided at a later date and that the court docket additionally denied Meta’s effort to invalidate Washington’s regulation on political advert transparency.

The oral ruling occurred throughout a listening to earlier than King County Superior Courtroom Decide Douglass North, The Seattle Occasions reported.

In a press release, Ferguson stated his workplace defeated Fb’s “cynical try” to intestine Washington’s campaign-finance transparency regulation.

“On behalf of the individuals of Washington, I problem Fb to just accept this resolution and do one thing quite simple – observe the regulation,” Ferguson stated.

California-based Meta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from the newspaper.

Washington’s transparency regulation, handed by voters about 50 years in the past, requires advert sellers comparable to Meta to reveal the names and addresses of those that purchase political adverts, the goal of such adverts and the entire variety of views of every advert. Advert sellers should present the knowledge to anybody who asks for it.

The social media big, which additionally owns Instagram and different social media platforms, has repeatedly objected to the necessities, and argued in a abstract judgment movement that Washington’s regulation “unduly burdens political speech” and is “just about not possible to adjust to.”

The regulation permits monetary penalties of $10,000 per violation, which could be tripled when violations are deemed intentional. The Lawyer Basic’s Workplace asserts Fb has dedicated a whole lot of violations since 2018.