Google, Facebook to pay $ 450K for Washington crimes
FILE – In this November 28, 2017, file shot, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson speaks at a press conference in Seattle. Google and Facebook are ordered by a Washington judge to pay $ 455,000 for a campaign funding case, Ferguson said on Tuesday, December 1[ads1]8, 2018. Google pays $ 217,000 and Facebook will pay $ 238,000 in response to two laws filed in June who accused the Technology Firms of failing to comply with the Political Transparency State Act, Ferguson said. (AP Photo / Elaine Thompson, File)
SEATTLE (AP) – Google and Facebook are ordered by a Washington state court to pay $ 455,000 for a campaign funding case, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on Tuesday.
Google pays $ 217,000 and Facebook pays $ 238,000 in response to two lawsuit filed in June which accused the technical firms of failing to comply with state law on political transparency, Ferguson said.
State prosecutors claimed that the companies violated a law requiring companies to maintain detailed documents about who pays for online political ads on their platforms.
Facebook spokeswoman Beth Gautier said the company was happy to resolve the matter.
"We work hard to protect the integrity of the election and prevent foreign interference. We believe that all ads should be transparent on Facebook and not waiting for legislation to authorize policy advertisers and remember those ads in a public archive," Gautier said id .
Google could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday, but the company said in June shortly after the lawsuit was filed that it would stop participating in political ads.
Google said in a statement: "We take transparency and publication of political ads very seriously and therefore we have decided to stop government and local election ads in Washington, June 7, while considering the amended campaign's public law and ensure that our systems are built to comply with the new requirements.
The lawsuit came after the State Publication Commission issued regulations relating to a new law and provided an emergency rule that clarified that digital advertising companies like Google and Facebook are subject to state law requiring them to Maintains publicly available information about political ads, like television stations and other media.
"Whether you're a small town newspaper or a big company, Washington's political advertising bill laws laws apply to everyone," Ferguson said in a statement.
Commercial advertisers are expected to provide information as desired by the public, but the state said Facebook and Google denied 2017 municipal election policy advertisements to The Stranger newspaper when it applied for them.
Ferguson said the companies failed to maintain such records.
