Community & Content Guidelines

The golden rule: describe the conduct, never the identity

✅ Do this: "A recruitment agency in Sliema kept my ID card and refused to return it."
❌ Not this: "[Company Name] and their manager [Person's Name] kept my ID card."

Do not name private individuals or private companies. Not in reports, not in stories, not in our channels.

Three reasons, all of them serious:

1. It protects you. Naming an employer or a landlord publicly can expose you to retaliation, at work, in your housing, and potentially in your immigration status. We are not willing to put you in that position.
2. It protects the project. Under Malta's Media and Defamation Act (Chapter 579), publishing an unproven allegation against a named person or business creates real legal exposure, for us and potentially for you. A single lawsuit could end ExpatVoice.
3. It doesn't cost us anything. We are looking for patterns, not culprits. "Twelve reports of ID-card retention by recruitment agencies" is far more useful to us, and far more powerful in front of an institution, than one name.

If you are describing something unlawful, the right destination is an authority, the police, the DIER (employment), or the relevant regulator. We can help you understand who to contact. We cannot investigate, adjudicate or punish, and we will not pretend otherwise.

Also not allowed

• Hate speech, or content attacking people on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality or disability. This includes content hostile to Maltese people. We are here to build bridges, not to run a grievance forum.
• Party-political campaigning, or content supporting or attacking a party or candidate.
• Harassment, threats, or personal attacks.
• Other people's personal data, shared without their consent.
• Spam, commercial promotion, recruitment, or affiliate links.
• Deliberately false information, particularly about voting, residence or immigration, where it can cause real harm.

What we do with what you send

• Reports: never published as submitted. We look for patterns. Any public output is aggregated and anonymised, and we never publish a figure based on fewer than 5 reports.
• Stories: published only with your explicit consent, and only in the form you chose. Pseudonym is our default. You can withdraw at any time.

Moderation

We remove content that breaks these rules, and we may block persistent offenders. We are a small volunteer team; we act as fast as we can. info@expatvoice.mt to report something.

Withdrawal

Change your mind about anything you sent us? Write to us and we will remove it. No explanation needed.