Facebook unveils measures to limit foreign electoral interference in Singapore

The advertisers will further be required to disclose who is responsible for the advertisement, and provide their name, their organisation or a Facebook page they run within the 'Paid for By' disclaimer of such advertisements.

Contact information such as a phone number, email address or website must also be provided.

These advertisements will then be placed in an ‘Ad Library’ for seven years, where members of the public can also see how much was spent as well as how many people viewed it.

Facebook’s public policy director for global elections Katie Harbath said: “These requirements hold advertisers accountable for the ads they run on Facebook and Instagram.This authorisation process is also required for those who want to run advertisements relating to some social issues, such as civil and social rights, immigration, crime as well as political values and governance.

"These particular issues were decided based on external consultation, as well as Facebook’s internal research which found these subjects were matters frequently debated by Singaporeans on Facebook."

The moves come after Facebook committed to making sure that fake news doesn’t impact the elections, by coming down on political advertising and removing bad actors and fake accounts. It is further making its transparency tools for political ads globally available, more than a year after rolling out the first iteration of the tool in the US following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.