US Democratic candidate Biden urges Facebook to fact-check political ads

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign published an open letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, calling for the company to police and fact-check politicians' ads and speech.

The Biden campaign asked supporters to sign a petition for Facebook to crack down on misinformation in ads, and it issued a list of demands including that the company should promptly remove false, viral information and that there should be clear rules that also apply to President Donald Trump to prohibit "threats and lies about how to participate in the election."

In a blog post, Facebook said it would continue to protect political speech.

"We live in a democracy, where the elected officials decide the rules around campaigns," the company responded.

"Two weeks ago the President of the United States issued an executive order directing Federal agencies to prevent social media sites from engaging in activities like fact-checking political statements. This week, the Democratic candidate for President started a petition calling on us to do the exact opposite."