Protesters rally at Facebook HQ over political ads

Demonstrators rallied outside Facebook hequarters on Thursday to protest social media company's anuncement that it will t ban, fact-check or limit targeting of political s during 2020 presidential election.

Facebook said it will offer users slightly more control over how many political s y see and make its online library of political s easier to browse.

Those steps didn't appear to assu critics - including politicians, activists, tech competitors and some of company's own rank-and-file employees - who say Facebook has too much power and that social media is warping democracy and undermining elections.

Facebook's stance stands in contrast to what its rivals are doing.

Google has decided to limit targeting of political s, while Twitter is banning m outright.

Social media companies have been trying to tackle misinformation since it was learned that Russians bankrolled thousands of fake political s during 2016 elections to sow discord among Americans.

fears go beyond foreign interference. In recent months, Facebook, Twitter and Google refused to remove a misleing video from President Donald Trump's campaign that targeted Democrat lawmaker Joe Biden.

TV stations and networks aren't required to fact-check s eir, but social media gives candidates a certain vant: ability to "microtarget" ir s.

Facebook said in a blog post on Thursday that it considered limiting microtargeting for political s.

But it said it learned about importance of such practices for reaching "key audiences" after talking with political campaigns from both major parties in US, political groups and nprofits.