In brief: Facebook to set up Singapore operation center in time for 2019 elections

We are planning to set up two new regional operation centers, focused on election integrity, located in our Dublin and Singapore offices.

This will allow our global teams to better work across regions in the run-up to elections, and will further strengthen our coordination and response time between staff in Menlo Park and in-country.

Source: Facebook

The operation centers in Dublin and Singapore will focus on detecting and removing fake accounts, working with fact-checkers to stop the spread of misinformation, and increasing transparency and accountability for advertisers, says a Facebook spokesperson.

“We have dedicated teams working on every upcoming election around the world, and we have been localizing our efforts here in Asia Pacific to prevent interference on our platform in countries where there are planned elections in 2019,” says the spokesperson.

The Singapore center, in particular, will focus on regional elections, including those in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

Facebook claims it has increased the number of people working on “safety and security” to 30,000 – tripled from 2017. This comes as the social media giant reels from criticisms that its platform was used to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections.