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Washington Sues Facebook, Google For Failure To Disclose Political Ad Spending (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Facebook and Google were paid millions for political advertising purposes in Washington but failed for years to publish related information -- such as the advertiser's address -- as required by state law, alleges a lawsuit by the state's attorney general. Washington law requires that "political campaign and lobbying contributions and expenditures be fully disclosed to the public and that secrecy is to be avoided." Specifically, "documents and books of account" must be made available for public inspection during the campaign and for three years following; these must detail the candidate, name of advertiser, address, cost and method of payment, and description services rendered. Bob Ferguson, Washington's attorney general, filed a lawsuit yesterday alleging that both Facebook and Google "failed to obtain and maintain" this information.

39 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. They have to keep track of who pays for ads? by ITRambo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe both Facebook and Google are used to simply taking money from advertisers, rather than keeping track of all the details involved. That might require real people to do work and verify information veracity. I wonder what excuses they'll come up with to explain why they ignore laws that apply to everyone else.

    1. Re:They have to keep track of who pays for ads? by Narcocide · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I wonder what excuses they'll come up with to explain why they ignore laws that apply to everyone else.

      LOL! They'll say they can't afford to comply.

    2. Re:They have to keep track of who pays for ads? by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

      Whut? They track everything and everyone! They can more details than makes sense in their own database!

      --
      Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  2. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What bearing has this on the veracity of the allegations made in the lawsuit? None whatsoever? Thanks for playing!

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  3. Which Washington? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    Washington state, or the Washington that matters?

    1. Re: Which Washington? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      'Washington' could be either the state, or a city in the District of Columbia. 'DC' is not part of the cities name, anymore than Illinois is part of Chicago's name. A news article published on, say, the BBC news site could easily use 'Washington' to refer to the US government and would be very unlikely to append 'DC' while doing so.

    2. Re:Which Washington? by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

      Hey mannnnn, we're not all that bad.
      Skagit county best county

  4. Paid political ads should NEVER be anonymous by KixWooder · · Score: 2

    Exactly who paid for the ad should be visible within the ad, without having to click a link or run your mouse over it. Same as TV ads that say "paid for by".

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    I hate fat people.
    1. Re:Paid political ads should NEVER be anonymous by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      You are not at all clever.

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      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    2. Re: Paid political ads should NEVER be anonymous by KixWooder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can have all the anonymous political talk and promoting you want. Once money is involved, the anonymity should end.

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      I hate fat people.
    3. Re:Paid political ads should NEVER be anonymous by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      False equivalences all the way down.

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      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    4. Re: Paid political ads should NEVER be anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      +1 ideas are anonymous, and new ideas sometimes need that protection

      But money spent influencing people should never be anonymous, we need to know who is buying votes and politicians , because when they spend a lot of money on it there is usually something in it for them ... I've seen the odd millionaire sponsor a petition but that is small change compared to what is involved in getting someone elected or getting a bad idea to pass a referendum

      Captcha: wolves

    5. Re: Paid political ads should NEVER be anonymous by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      Where is the cutoff? Lawn placards, and handbills, cost money. So do web pages, newspaper ad space, or television time. And the tracking of contributions can have a very quelling effect on free speech, since those lists can be be sent or sold to very dangerous political enemies.

  5. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by jedidiah · · Score: 2

    You could complain that the law shouldn't exist or that it's a bogus prosecution. The gibberish you just posted is completely worthless.

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    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  6. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, can you try that again in English? Thanks!

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  7. Re: Just sad that Obama didn't do that by greenwow · · Score: 3, Informative

    You're talking about Marc Elias. He was the general counsel for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. That's a weak argument to say she wasn't responsible.

  8. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by Narcocide · · Score: 2

    Lawful + welfare = ...lawfare??

    You're Russian, aren't you?

  9. Re:NEWSFLASH: Facebook gives to 4 Chinese companie by ole_timer · · Score: 1

    and you're surprised by this? facebook gives everyone all the data. always has.

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  10. Re:Just sad that Obama didn't do that by greenwow · · Score: 1

    True but an attorney from Seattle named Marc Elias from Perkins Coie LLP was the general counsel for both Kerry's and Hillary's campaigns.

  11. Re: Just sad that Obama didn't do that by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    Are you really saying that you're not responsible for everything your attorney does? And how about your manicurist?

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  12. Re: Just sad that Obama didn't do that by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    Wrong. Try again some time.

  13. Re: Just sad that Obama didn't do that by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    At that level? Please. It's a plum job for a law firm to list on its resume.

    They won't just do risky stuff for their client's benefit without their knowledge. At best, they will fake no knowledge for plausible deniability purposes.

    Wait, are we talking about Hillary's lawyer or Trump's children and lawyer?

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  14. Re:Censorship is Important by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Of course, your example fails when everyone is heads down in their smart phones. No, you really want to censor dissenting views.

  15. Re:Censorship is Important by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We don't assume they're honest. We do assume, however, that the political violance against the CA proposition 8 supporters will be repeated by other SJWs, and consequently see the need for anonymous speech to protect the freedom of speech. It's not free speech if you'll be targeted with violence for speaking.

  16. Washington does not want by oldgraybeard · · Score: 2

    your corporations in the state I'd start to move everything out to a friendlier place.

    Just my 2 cents ;)

    1. Re:Washington does not want by Peter+P+Peters · · Score: 1

      your corporations in the state I'd start to move everything out to a friendlier place.

      By friendlier do you mean more corrupt?

  17. Re:Newsflash: Facebook is a global corporation by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Assuming you are not trying to be a dumb ass, where in the Constitution is the Internet discussed?

  18. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by DeVilla · · Score: 1

    New? How new? Do you mean the guy who was going to increase protections for whistle-blowers, stop warrant-less surveillance and close Guantanamo Bay?

    Or are you thinking of the fellow who was "a uniter and not a divider" that was going to keep America out of quagmires that don't have a clear exit strategy?

    Are you reaching back to the gregarious fellow who's appearance, including his hair color changed almost as much as his contradictory campaign promises based on the audience he was going to appear before?

    Or are you reaching back even further for the start of this "new" trend? Because this isn't getting any more difficult. Admittedly the latest specimen doesn't exhibit the refined, cultured quality of deceit that his predecessors had developed. But I'd be hard pressed to call it any more weaselly.

    Heck, he's so bad at lying he's arguably more transparent than what we are used to seeing in Washington. I guess it's a matter of whether you want to see the lie coming or if you'd rather a lie you can believe in.

  19. Let's clean up that headline by Required+Snark · · Score: 3, Interesting
    "Washington Sues Facebook, Google For Failure To Disclose Political Ad Spending"

    Translation. "Washington State Sues Business Rivals of Microsoft"

    Now it makes sense.

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    Why is Snark Required?
  20. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    Well, at least you used to have weasels with some integrity. Now you don't even have that.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  21. Re:Censorship is Important by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't believe "anonymity" is included in the 1st Amendment.

    It was essential to forming both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

    And why do people automatically believe "anonymous" sources to be honest?
      Anonymous sources are just a good way of making shit up and not having to prove the veracity of your statements. It also provides reports and all media in general from libel charges.

    The value of an anonymous source is that words can exist under their own weight. There is no appeal to authority for a claim made anonymously, and only fragile ad hominem attacks like the one you made. The words are worth what they are worth, no more, and only a fool insists less.

  22. USPS is a "common carrier" by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    > Like FB, USPS is paid to deliver political advertising. Does
    > USPS maintain this data and make it public? I don't think so.

    The post office and the phone company are "common carriers" which gives them different rights and responsibilities. E.g. if a TV or radio station program falsely called you a pedophile, you could sue them. If A sends a letter to B saying Anonymous Coward is a pedophile, the post office cannot be sued for transmitting the letter. Ditto for the phone company not subject to lawsuits if someone phones your neighbour falsely telling them you're a pedophile.

    A common carrier, by definition, *MUST* provide it's service to everybody, unless they have a good reason not to do so. E.g. an airline can refuse to carry fireworks in the cargo hold on a passenger flight.

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    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
  23. Re:Newsflash: Facebook is a global corporation by mysidia · · Score: 1

    Assuming you are not trying to be a dumb ass, where in the Constitution is the Internet discussed?

    Article I Section 8. The Commerce Clause. Provides congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.

    The legal cases showing how this addresses transactions over the mail, the internet, and other common carriers such as by telephone --- include ones such as Quill Corp. v. North Dakota and Bellas Hess v. Department of Revenue

    Held: The Commerce Clause prohibits a State from imposing the duty of use tax collection and payment upon a seller whose only connection with customers in the State is by common carrier or by mail. Pp. 386 U. S. 756-760.

    We need not rest on the broad foundation of all that was said in the Miller Bros. opinion, for here there was neither local advertising nor local household deliveries, upon which the dissenters in Miller Bros. so largely relied. 347 U.S. at 347 U. S. 358. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of commercial transactions more exclusively interstate in character than the mail order transactions here involved. And if the power of Illinois to impose use tax burdens upon National were upheld, the resulting impediments upon the free conduct of its interstate business would be neither imaginary nor remote. For if Illinois can impose such burdens, so can every other State, and so, indeed, can every municipality, every school district, and every other political subdivision throughout the Nation with power to impose sales and use taxes. [Footnote 12] The many variations in rates of tax, [Footnote 13] in allowable exemptions, and in administrative and recordkeeping requirements [Footnote 14] could entangle National's interstate
    Page 386 U. S. 760

    business in a virtual welter of complicated obligations to local jurisdictions with no legitimate claim to impose "a fair share of the cost of the local government."

    The very purpose of the Commerce Clause was to ensure a national economy free from such unjustifiable local entanglements. Under the Constitution, this is a domain where Congress alone has the power of regulation and control. [Footnote 15]

  24. Re: Just sad that Obama didn't do that by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Hillary didnâ(TM)t hire him. Her law firm Perkins Coie here in Seattle hired him. She isnâ(TM)t responsible.

    Trump didn't pay Stormy Daniels. Trump's law firm paid her.

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  25. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by DeVilla · · Score: 1

    I must have a narrower definition of integrity than you.

  26. Re:Censorship is Important by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    Same reason they believe most of what they read; especially if it has quotes around it.

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    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  27. Re: Just sad that Obama didn't do that by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    You should hit the road with this.

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    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  28. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    There's something new to learn every day, I guess.

    Still pretty damn obscure, if you ask me.

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  29. Re:Oh look, Bob Ferguson is campaigning again by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    No, law + warfare. See the Wikipedia entry.

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.