In the vexed context of the Cambridge Analytica affair, the combination of Facebook and 'electoral integrity' may raise a few eyebrows.

But the social media giant aims to change that - especially with elections ahead - and following two years of "investment in people and technology to better identify and remove abuse".

Now new operations have been announced for Singapore and Ireland, the latter set to open this northern Spring.

The company says efforts had been focussed in the Asia-Pacific "to prevent interference on our platform in countries where there are planned elections in 2019.

"This includes detecting and removing fake accounts, working with fact-checkers to limit the spread of misinformation, tackling coordinated abuse, and bringing more transparency and accountability to advertisers."

Expanded global and regional teams "who appreciate the nuances of this region" and a regional response team are to be based in Singapore. "You can expect these centres to be operational closer to the elections in this region," a spokesperson says.

It claims to now have 30,000 people working on safety and security issues worldwide, with the regional centres providing an "additional layer of defence".

Upcoming elections in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are planned for scrutiny, with new measures also due in March, ahead of EU elections.

Political advertising on Facebook will be "more transparent" and political and issue ads are to be stored in a publicly-searchable library for seven years.