Facebook said it was the first time it had seen foreign influence operations directly engage on its platforms, with fake accounts denouncing each other as "fake news."

The company said it had suspended three networks totalling almost 500 accounts and pages for so-called "coordinated inauthentic behaviour."

One network was linked to "individuals associated with French military," it said, while the other two had connections to "individuals associated with past activity by the Russian Internet Research Agency" as well as Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin.

France and Russia are want to assert influence in Africa. Paris has ties with many French-speaking African countries, which it sees as vital to preventing the spread of violent Islamisation, and Moscow is jockeying for position in a lucrative market for its Oligarchs.

Facebook said the two campaigns largely focused on the Central African Republic (CAR), which votes on December 27, but also targeted users in 13 other African countries including Algeria, Cameroon, Libya and Sudan.