Update: Even this article got taken down. I’ve uploaded an image version to Facebook to try and get around it, so please share it to get the word out.
As of writing this, I’m on course to write my 100th article of the year.
This should be a cause for celebration, but if you follow Bis-Serjetà on Facebook, you probably haven’t seen many of my latest articles. That’s because they’re either being removed, or having their reach throttled so that only a microscopic minority of my 40,000 followers ends up seeing them.
I suspect a couple of articles have been mass-reported, like the recent one where I pretended to be Neville Gafa calling Daphne Caruana Galizia a ‘poopy head’, which A LOT of people thought was real. But most of the articles have been removed for ‘trying to get likes, follows, shares or video views in a misleading way,’ which I obviously don’t do.
I usually get this notification immediately after I post an article to the Facebook page. I never got it before a few months ago, and now it’s a common occurrence. There’s no logic or discernible pattern behind it – both innocuous and controversial articles have been targeted.
Then there’s the throttling, when the algorithm doesn’t remove the article but decides it isn’t going to show it to anyone, with the same end result.
I’ve done this long enough to know that three reactions (I don’t count my own) after two hours is not normal. I expect that this article will get throttled too, so if you’re reading it, please share it.
So what can you do?
The easiest way to see everything I write is by signing up to Patreon. Now, while I’d love it if you decided to become a paying member for as little as €3 a month, you can also become a free member. That way, at least you can actually see my headlines, and then decide whether you want to pay to read the article (I think 3 cents per article so far this year is pretty good value for money).
I also recommend that you download the Patreon app (available on both Android and iPhone), which is the best way to read my articles. You’ll also get notified whenever I publish something new.
You can also join the Bis-Serjetà Whatsapp broadcast channel. Add the number (+356)79213658 to your contact list, then send a Whatsapp message saying ‘Subscribe’. Don’t worry, this is a one-way line of communication, so it’s not a group chat and you won’t get spammed with messages.
There will probably come a time when Bis-Serjetà either gets banned from Facebook for accumulating a bunch of Community Standards breaches, or I decide to leave the platform because it’s become total dogshit. So if you want to continue getting Malta’s most serious news, I strongly encourage you to sign up to one or both of the above.
