It Seems People in Germany Are Being Massively Censored on Twitter

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I had my doubts, but when Elon bought Twitter and brought back many of the so-called controversial voices, I also had my hopes. Over the last few weeks, however, more and more people are reporting mass shadow-banning of accounts that critically discuss developments in Germany.

My account is by no means large—I’ve gathered around 900 followers, most of whom are primarily looking for a refollow. But I have a blue checkmark, which I pay for to support Elon’s attempt at creating a free speech platform. With that checkmark, a “response boost” is promised. In simple terms, accounts with a blue checkmark should appear first under tweets, while those without appear later. I once read that it’s a threefold boost; others say fivefold. I’m not sure which is correct, but a boost was definitely advertised when subscribed two years ago.

Yesterday, I went over several responses I posted the past few days and found some with only a single impression (which should have been my own). How is it possible to get such low visibility when a boost is promised? And how is it possible to get so few impressions when you have 900 followers?

I’m not expecting thousands of impressions, but getting just one is hard to explain without considering censorship and shadow-banning.

I’ve heard it’s even worse in the UK. Large US accounts are also reporting a recent sharp drop in reach.

Have the censorship overlords now reached Elon?

He made an official announcement this week that the AI algorithm is about to be updated, which should “solve some issues.” I don’t expect it to solve the problem of government censorship, though.

If things stay the way they are, Twitter is not a platform I’m going to invest much time in anymore. I might use it for posting links and “Free Book Promo” announcements and will check daily if readers reach out (you can say hi to me here). But I’m not going to create original content for Twitter without a fair playing field—something it seems German accounts not affiliated with the system do not have.

Instead, I’ll focus on writing daily for my blog (which is growing), creating video content on YouTube and Rumble, and, of course, writing short stories and books. There’s plenty of work to do there anyway.

Why I Don’t Recommend Writing on Medium

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In 2024, I wrote 365 articles on Medium to test whether the platform was worth it.

Well… I lied a little. I wanted to write 365 articles, but about halfway through the year, Medium decided to ban me. Here’s why.

The Beginning

After writing close to 50 articles, Medium restricted my account features in February. I couldn’t believe it. I was only writing about my author project, my YouTube channel, and my freelancing work. Nothing controversial at all. Yet, a small banner appeared at the top of my homepage saying my account had been banned for violating Medium’s community guidelines.

When I reached out, they replied two weeks later:

Oops, our bad. The automated censorship system — which we don’t officially call a ‘censorship system’ — somehow confused your blog with someone else’s. Here’s your account back. Have fun writing for Medium — the best platform for authors on the web!

Three months later, my account features were restricted again. This time, I assumed it was another automated error. But a week later, they told me I was banned for good for violating community guidelines.

Which guidelines did I violate? They didn’t say.
How did I violate them? No explanation.
Which article caused the ban? Still no answer.

Like many social media platforms, Medium has vague community guidelines that prohibit posting “hateful content.” What counts as hateful? They don’t specify. This gives them the option to shut down any user they dislike.

Write something pro-conservative, and you might get banned in a liberal climate. Write pro-liberal, and the same thing could happen when the political tide changes. It’s absurd.

I considered my Medium writing to be very tame. I never used swear words, insulted anyone, or posted negative comments. Yet I got booted.

Meanwhile, there’s literally pornography on Medium — really explicit and graphic stuff — and that’s apparently fine. But expressing a mild political opinion? That’s where Medium draws the line.

My Thoughts on Medium

Enough about my ban. Here’s what I learned from six months on Medium:

  1. Medium gives you an audience faster than a website
    I did get readers. I didn’t achieve fame, but once I paid $5/month to join the Partner Program, I earned a few dollars here and there. My estimate: after 365 articles, starting from zero, I might have broken even — averaging about $5/month after a year.
  2. Viral articles don’t necessarily pay well
    One article “went viral” by my small-profile standards: 180 views, 90 reads, and it earned me 4 cents. Yes, 4 cents. Some magazines pay that per word, which puts Medium’s pay into perspective.
  3. There are “whales” on Medium
    The real money comes from readers who pay $15/month. Their reads are worth more than average. Without attracting these whales, making a living is nearly impossible.
  4. I liked the design
    Medium is clean, reader-friendly, and visually pleasing. I’ve tried to replicate some of that design on my own website.
  5. Organic growth is possible, but limited
    Following people who follow you is a simple trick to gain initial subscribers. The more followers you have, the more your articles appear in feeds.
  6. Most content is generic
    Many successful Medium writers write about how to succeed on Medium — a ponzi-like cycle where success breeds advice for the less successful. Unique voices are rare. And for political writing? Be liberal, preferably an Obama fan.
  7. Medium’s payment system is essentially a ponzi scheme
    Users pay at least $5/month, some of which goes to writers. But a large portion goes to Medium itself. Not everyone can earn their money back, let alone make a living in that system, as this would make Medium become unviable.
  8. AI writing floods the platform
    Articles like “10 unknown facts about the Great Wall” are now everywhere, generated in seconds. Medium is swamped with AI content, making reading less enjoyable.
  9. Your platform can be taken away overnight
    The biggest flaw: you can be banned without explanation. No second chance, no appeal. You’re building Medium’s platform, not your own.

When to Write on Medium

If your content is non-political and you want to reach an audience quickly, Medium can work. Post daily articles on topics like cooking, travel, or investing. Follow people and mention in your profile that you refollow everyone. Once you have an audience, write about how to write and make money on Medium.

Don’t expect to break even in the first year, and don’t expect to earn more than $100/month anytime soon.

When Not to Write on Medium

If you want the freedom to speak your mind, avoid Medium. Build your own website, grow your audience, and sell books or services when the demand is there.

Your website — and your writing — is yours. Whatever you do on Medium will never truly be yours.

Why Everyone Needs a Website

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People started moving to social media around 2016. I’d noticed the decline of truly worthwhile blogs to read about ten years ago. But I believe that trend is about to reverse.

Social media gives you access to a large audience, and people often expect you to have at least a Twitter account if you’re a public figure. I get that. I use Twitter and YouTube myself — and maybe, in the future, I’ll increase efforts on Instagram too.

However, the way these platforms have evolved makes having your own website more important than ever. I was banned from Medium over a year ago without a single warning, I’m fairly sure YouTube shadow-bans my channel, and German Twitter is full with state censorship for those who don’t align with the mainstream narrative.

On my website, nobody can censor me. I can write what I want and speak my mind freely on here. Some will like it, others will hate it — but no one can deplatform me here. Sure, Google might bury content it doesn’t like in the search results, but once I’ve built a loyal readership and mailing list, Google’s influence over me fades.

For authors, maintaining a blog is especially valuable because it’s a simple (and free) way for readers to discover and get into your work. I often give away books for free, but blogging is another way for potential readers to get to know me without any commitment. If you enjoy my blog, you’ll enjoy my books — guaranteed.

But I believe a website is essential for any public figure. In the near future, hosting video content will likely become very affordable. At that point, anyone could host their own vlogs, video essays, podcasts, and livestreams directly on their own site. Add a payment processor that doesn’t discriminate by political beliefs, and the bubble of mainstream media control could finally burst — giving rise to a new golden age of citizen journalism. No add AI video making and anyone could make Hollywood quality movies and post (and sell) them on their own website.

Even if you’re not an author, social commentator, vlogger, or influencer, a website is still for you. At the very least, it serves as your personal business card — a place to showcase your projects and interests. Whether you study math, play college sports, work as a plumber, invest in crypto or dividends, or love to travel — create a website and write about it. You might not become a famous influencer or make big money from it, but it will open doors.

And I’m not just talking about professional opportunities — personal ones, too. Let’s say you love riding motorbikes. With a website, you’ll quickly connect with other enthusiasts in your area. If you love reading, authors might start sending you free books or you’ll get great book recommendations by other readers. If you’re passionate about a sports team and write about them for fun, you might gain better access to games in the future.

A website simply builds credibility — in every area. And it does that far better than social media can for the average person. Sure, having a million Twitter followers is great, but what about smaller accounts like mine, with only around a thousand? Nobody cares about these accounts as they’re a dime a dozen.

A website with just 1,000 monthly readers, on the other hand, is something real — a meaningful platform that connects you with potential friends, collaborators, and opportunities.

Write For Humans, Not Machines

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Not long ago, standard SEO advice was to include a specific keyword at least once every 100 words in your website articles to make them rank better on Google.

This led to a practice called keyword stuffing — the result of Google’s early algorithm favoring pages that repeated the main keyword multiple times. People discovered that the more often they added the keyword, the higher their articles could rank.

The outcome? Millions of unreadable, low-quality articles cluttered the web. Google eventually adjusted its algorithm and started penalizing sites that overused keywords. What human readers hated soon became what Google’s algorithm hated, too.

Around the same time, headlines like these flooded the internet: “12 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Cat (Number 7 Will Shock You)”. They worked for a while, attracting clicks and views. But once readers realized that Buzzfeed-like listicles were mostly fluff designed to generate traffic rather than offer real value, engagement plummeted.

I can’t prove that Google adapted its algorithm in this case as well—but I certainly adapted. Whenever I see an article with a typical clickbait list headline, I skip it. I even avoid returning to that website altogether.

The blogs I continue to read are usually one-person sites. The authors behind them feel real and authentic. They write about their lives, work, and hobbies as if they were talking to a friend. In short: they write for humans, not machines.

And that’s the best long-term strategy. Think about it:

Google (and other search engines) are ultimately trying to connect readers with writers. Its algorithm aims to understand what humans want to read—and over time, it’s getting better at imitating human interests.

On top of that, social media has become a major driver of website traffic. And on social media, it’s humans—not algorithms—who share links to your blog.

Another trend is that the traditional era of SEO is coming to an end. Now, everything is shifting toward optimizing content for AI. But what are tools like ChatGPT trying to do? They’re designed to think and respond like humans. So, in the end, writing for humans also means writing for AI.

Finally, you don’t just want traffic, clicks, leads, or sales—you want an audience. And that audience is made up of humans. So why not write directly for them instead of trying to game algorithms and machines? After all, Google, Twitter, and ChatGPT exist to bring human eyes to your work. And you want these humans to follow you (and even buy your products and services).

What’s the point of generating massive traffic with an SEO-optimized article if it’s so poorly written that no real human actually wants to read it? You’re not going to gain a following like this and you’re not going to earn the trust that is needed to sell books or other products.

In the end, writing for humans will always be the best approach.

How Long Should Blog Posts Be?

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Short answer: As long as they need to be — and not a single word longer.

Long answer:
It seems that blog posts between 2,000 and 4,000 words tend to rank best on Google. So if you’re writing primarily for search engines, that’s a good target range. And it’s the reason the pro-bloggers write primarily posts of that length.

Of course, sometimes the topic naturally determines how long your article should be. If you’re writing an opinion piece titled “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie” you could end it in a single sentence:

Yes, and Yippee-Ki-Ya, motherfucker.

But if your article is titled “How to Write a Book,” even 4,000 words might not be enough.

My approach is to write for readers first, myself second, and search engines last. That means I focus on giving the reader exactly what the title promises — as clearly and concisely as possible. Adding unnecessary words or paragraphs just to please Google is counterproductive. So I keep things short and simple.

Take Derek Sivers, for example. I like his blog because he follows the same philosophy. Some of his posts are shorter than 300 words, yet they still deliver great ideas.

For the real-time biography blogging niche I’ve defined for my writing on this site, my goal is to give you a quick look into my work and progress that usually contains one idea at a time. Hence, short posts are totally fine, and even better than 1,000 words of rambling.

On the first day of every month, I publish a longer post titled “Progress Report.” It’s already grown to about 1,000 words per post — and naturally, it’ll become longer over time as my Author in Progress project develops.

However, posts like the one you’re reading right now usually range from 300 to 500 words. And I believe that’s enough to deliver what the title promises.

You tell me if I’m wrong.