Facebook rejects Biden request to remove Trump Ukraine ad

Facebook has denied a request from former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign to remove an ad being run by President Trump’s reelection campaign that questions Biden’s role in the firing of a Ukranian prosecutor.

CNN reports that Facebook, in a letter, responded to a removal request made by Biden’s campaign by saying its decision to let the ad remain is “grounded in Facebook’s fundamental belief in free expression, respect for the democratic process, and belief that in mature democracies with a free press, political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is.”

{mosads}The 30-second video from the Trump campaign has also appeared on Twitter and YouTube.

The video accuses Biden of offering military aid money to Ukraine if it agreed to remove the prosecutor investigating a company tied to his son, Hunter Biden.

There is no evidence that Biden pushed for the prosecutor’s removal to protect his son, and the Obama administration said it wanted the prosecutor removed because he did not do enough to stamp out corruption in Ukraine.

The Democratic National Committee called for that ad to be removed shortly after the Trump campaign posted it, saying that “any false ad should be fact checked and removed, including this one.”

The Biden campaign responded to Facebook denying the request as “unacceptable.”

Campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo told CNN in a statement that the spread of “objectively false information to influence public opinion poisons the public discourse and chips away at our democracy.”

The Hill has reached out to Biden’s campaign for comment.

CNN reports it previously refused to air the ad from the Trump campaign.

Facebook noted that it does not send political ads to be run on its platform to third-party fact-checkers.

Trump has already poured more than $5 million into Facebook ads this election cycle after targeted advertising on the platform boosted his candidacy in 2016.