French Satirical Website Le Gorafi Launches Print Edition to Counter Algorithmic Censorship

The French satirical website Le Gorafi, founded by Sébastien Liebus in 2012 as a parody of Le Figaro and owned by DC Compagny, is launching a print edition this week. The first issue of the 16-page monthly magazine will be available for purchase on Thursday at a price of 6.99 euros, with an initial print run of 30,000 copies. Liebus announced the move on France Inter on Tuesday, March 31, stating that satire contributes to democratic debate and that the publication aims to establish itself ahead of upcoming presidential elections. The founder expressed concerns about algorithmic moderation on social media platforms, noting that artificial intelligence systems often fail to recognize satire and sarcasm, leading to reduced visibility for their content. He cited the success of the American satirical publication The Onion, which revived its print edition a year and a half ago and now has over 60,000 subscribers, as inspiration for this venture. Le Gorafi plans to assess the success of the print format over the next year, with the new publication featuring entirely original content while maintaining the same sections as the website.