Facebook has decided not to ban political ads or limit their targeting in a move that has received widespread criticism.
The social networking giant's rival Twitter banned political ads outright last October.
Facebook's main digital ad rival Google limited how ads can be targeted to specific groups of people.
Facebook has decided not to do either of these as it believes: “People should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public”.