Meta fined $25 million by Washington state judge

A Seattle-area judge on Wednesday levied a $25 million fine against the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the penalty was appropriate for Meta’s more than 800 violations of the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act. The fine could be the biggest campaign finance penalty in U.S. history. Meta, which is based in California, didn’t immediately comment on the fine.

What did Meta do to get fined? The state of Washington requires platforms such as Meta to publicize identifying information about those who buy each political ad. Meta must also publish how each ad was paid for, the target audience of the ad, and the total number of views for the ad. Meta has said the requirements are “virtually impossible” for it to follow, even though television stations and newspapers have done so for decades. Facebook does keep an archive of political ads that run on the platform, but it does not disclose all the information Washington requires.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report on how the “fake reality” and peer contagion of the internet are leading many teen girls into transgenderism.