Joe Biden is demanding that Facebook fact-check political ads. Facebook says no.

• Joe Biden's campaign has demanded that Facebook fact-check political ads and crack down on misinformation.
• Facebook is refusing, arguing that it's up to elected officials to decide the rules on political advertising and campaigning.
• The social network is facing intensifying criticism from both the left and the right.
• Do you work at Facebook? Contact this reporter at rprice@businessinsider.com or +1 650-636-6268. Anonymity offered.

Joe Biden's campaign is demanding that Facebook more proactively police its social network for misinformation and falsehoods in the runup to the 2020 US presidential election.

Facebook says no.

On Thursday, Biden's campaign published an open letter on its website to Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, asking it to "proactively stem the tide of false information" about elections and politics on its platform.

The social network promptly responded — issuing a statement saying that "we will protect political speech, even when we strongly disagree with it."

The back-and-forth highlights just how intensely Facebook is now being attacked by both sides of the political aisle. Trump and the Republican Party continue to peddle the unproven claim that Facebook (and other big tech companies) are deliberately censoring conservative voices online. (In fact, right-wing news outlets and public figures are routinely some of the most popular pages on Facebook.)

Meanwhile, liberal-minded critics charge that Facebook routinely gives a pass to conservatives, in part by not fact-checking political advertising, allowing for lies to spread with impunity.

Biden's open letter calls on Facebook to fact-check all political ads prior to running them in the two weeks leading up to election day, and to stop "amplifying untrustworthy content." It's unclear what the Biden campaign means by "untrustworthy," and Facebook already reduces the reach of content that has been fact-checked).

"Anything less will render Facebook a tool of misinformation that corrodes our democracy. Facebook has promised better. And American voters deserve better," the letter reads. "Right now, we're less than 150 days to the election. The time for setting, testing, and implementing meaningful policy to protect our elections is running out."

In Facebook's response, it drew a line between the attacks from Republicans and Democrats, and argued that regulation of political ads is a question for legislators, not Facebook, to decide. "We live in a democracy, where the elected officials decide the rules around campaigns," it wrote.

"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. Just as they have done with broadcast networks — where the US government prohibits rejecting politicians' campaign ads — the people's elected representatives should set the rules, and we will follow them. There is an election coming in November and we will protect political speech, even when we strongly disagree with it."

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