Facebook owner Meta fined £21m for violating campaign disclosure laws

Facebook owner Meta has been fined for breaching political campaign laws (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

A Washington state judge on Wednesday fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly 25 million US dollars (£21 million) for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in US history.

The penalty issued by King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North was the maximum allowed for more than 800 violations of Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, passed by voters in 1972 and later strengthened by the Legislature.