UPDATE: Campaign Legal Center & Partners Celebrate Washington State Upholding Disclosure Law for Political Ads

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a win for transparency, the Washington Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by Facebook parent company Meta to challenge the constitutionality of a state disclosure law for political advertising. 

The court challenge came after Meta had been served a $25 million fine for failing to comply with a provision of Washington state’s political advertising law that requires online social media platforms to disclose who is paying for political ads on their site, and the demographics of audiences targeted and reached by such ads. 

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), along with our partners the League of Women Voters of Washington, Fix Democracy First and the Brennan Center for Justice filed an amicus brief arguing that digital advertising poses new threats to democracy and requires comprehensive transparency laws. 

“Voters have a right to know who is behind political spending that is attempting to influence their vote,” said Tara Malloy, CLC’s senior director for appellate litigation and strategy. “Protecting disclosure laws like Washington states’ is critical for ensuring that information on political ads remains easily accessible to voters and transparency is upheld no matter how the media landscape evolves.” 

CLC’s Tara Malloy and Maha Quadri go into further detail with a newly published blog, available here.