A Washington state court in Seattle recently imposed a whopping $24.6 million penalty against Meta for political ads sold on Facebook in violation of the state’s campaign finance laws. Hailing the decision, Washington’s attorney general condemned the company for its “arrogance” and demanded that it “apologize for its conduct.” Pot, meet kettle.
In 2018, the state’s Public Disclosure Commission made a bad law worse for digital advertising platforms. Without any legislative mandate, the agency required digital platforms to maintain minutiae about political ads, such as the demographic information for each ad’s target audience. It also imposed exacting specifications as to how and when the required information must be made available.
Second, America's courts have never recognized the type of record keeping and disclosure that Washington requires in this case as representing a “legitimate governmental interest.” Courts have only upheld laws that inform the public about the sources and magnitude of campaign spending, reasoning that such laws can deter corruption and provide valuable information to voters about who is backing a candidate or ballot question.
Ironically, while brought under the guise of a “disclosure” law, the prosecution of Meta also restricts the availability of valuable information for Washington’s residents. Even before the state filed suit, Meta, Google, Yahoo, and others had stopped selling political ads altogether in Washington in response to the 2018 PDC rulemaking. Notwithstanding the company’s self-imposed Washington political ad ban, Meta inadvertently let through a relatively small number of regulated ads.
Lies and myths and false accusations are not 'political free speech.'