Washington State Sues Facebook and Google For Political Ads

With the 2018 midterm elections fast approaching, election security and transparency continue to worry policymakers, including those in Washington state.

The state is suing both Facebook and Google for violating the state's campaign finance law, Reuters reports.

The suit, filed by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, says the two companies failed to provide records on who buys election ads.

"Washingtonians have a right to know who's paying for the political advertising they see," said Ferguson.

This isn't a recent development. The suit claims that Facebook and Google have been failing to disclose political ad information since 2013. The Attorney General's office proposed fines and injunctions against the two tech giants. Facebook and Google each have 20 days to respond to the state's complaints.

Google announced in May that it would be introducing new rules for purchasing political ads.

According to Reuters, Facebook said it was also introducing tools to increase transparency around the purchase of political ads and planned to resolve the lawsuit quickly.

Concern surrounding political advertisements and election security has grown in recent months. The Federal Election Commission announced in January it would be tackling online political ad transparency.