NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Facebook said on Monday it had removed some ads that contained misleading information about HIV prevention drugs following an outcry from activists, health experts and U.S. lawmakers. The ads linked the drugs, which are known as PrEP and designed to prevent HIV, to severe bone and kidney damage and were placed by personal-injury attorneys.

LGBT+ advocacy groups have for months been pressuring the U.S. company to remove the ads, pointing to a multitude of research showing that the medication is safe. Facebook initially declined, before doing so this weekend.

"After a review, our independent fact-checking partners have determined some of these ads in question mislead people about the effects of Truvada," spokeswoman Devon Kearns told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, referring to one of the drug brands. "As a result, we have rejected the ads and they can no longer run on Facebook," she said.

HIV prevention medication has been deemed "highly effective" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading national public health institute in the United States. Read more via Reuters