|
Friend,
Last September, in the weeks leading up to the presidential election, something very, very strange happened.
Suddenly, at the very moment that people usually flock to Common Dreams for the latest election news, the number of visitors to our site from Facebook fell off a cliff.
In August, we saw nearly 6 million visitors to our site from stories shared on Facebook. But in September, that number cratered to just over 1.5 million. Then we saw the same thing in October, as Americans went to the polls for the highest turnout election in history.
It made no sense. Was something wrong with our website? What happened?
Then Facebook admitted the truth: They were intentionally suppressing stories from progressive news sources like Common Dreams.
It's not that fewer people were sharing our stories. It's that Facebook was intentionally changing their algorithm so that when people shared our stories, their friends still wouldn't see them on their news feeds. And as of now, three months after the election, our traffic still hasn't recovered.
Obviously, this demonstrates clearly why Facebook is an out-of-control monopoly that should be broken up. But it is also an ongoing existential threat to our entire newsroom. We rely on donations from readers to pay our staff, keep the lights on, and maintain our servers.
When our readership is chopped by 60 or 70 percent, that directly translates to a dramatic reduction in donations from our readers.
We're counting on our readers--especially those who receive our emails--to help fill the shortfall created by Facebook's throttling of Common Dreams. Will you make a donation to help meet our Winter Fundraising Campaign goal of $75,000 by March 2?
| 
