Seattle Times:
Judge: Facebook intentionally violated WA campaign finance law 822 times
Last month, I wrote to you about our win against Facebook in court. Here’s an update:
a judge just ruled that Facebook intentionally violated Washington’s campaign finance law 822 times.
This is the law that requires campaign advertisers, such as newspapers, TV stations, and Facebook, to maintain records of their political ads and make them available to Washingtonians like you.
Back in 2018, Facebook agreed to pay a large fine and promised they would follow our campaign finance laws or stop selling political ads in Washington state.
They didn’t. Facebook kept selling ads and continued to refuse to disclose the identity of the ad purchasers.
So I took action. Facebook responded by hiring former Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna and an army of Washington, DC lawyers to challenge the constitutionality of our voter-approved campaign finance transparency law. If Facebook prevailed, it would have gutted this important law that combats dark money and requires disclosing who is funding political advertisements.
This is yet another example of a powerful corporation choosing its bottom line over our laws here in Washington. I won’t let that stand. Will you make a contribution of $10 or more today to support holding powerful corporations accountable?
I’ve gone up against corporate interests — from Facebook to the gun lobby —
and won every time. When powerful interests break the law, I won’t be intimidated.
If you stand with me and support holding corporate interests accountable, please make a contribution today, so I can keep up this fight on behalf of all Washingtonians.
This week, we’ll have a hearing about how much Facebook will be required to pay in penalties. I’ll let you know what happens.
Thank you,
Bob
