Washington judge finds Facebook violated campaign disclosure law

State of Washington V. Meta Platforms, brought to court by Attorney General Bob Ferguson against Meta, Facebook's parent company, concluded that Facebook ran local political advertisements throughout Washington state without properly disclosing information about who ran them.

In response to Facebook's argument that the disclosure law is unconstitutional, King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North called it "very constitutional."

The lawsuit, brought by the Attorney General's office in 2020, is the latest in a series of legal battles over the sale of political ads from the social media giant in Washington state.

Micro-targeted advertisements are a growing trend as social media offers new tools that traditional outlets like broadcast and print news can't. On a platform like Facebook, an advertiser can target an ad based on highly-specific parameters, like posts and interests a user has liked, as well as geographic location, like neighborhoods.