Spam in French

Ever had that sneaking suspicion that, somehow, you've inadvertently transgressed some online law and are now getting paid back over it?  It's what I've been left wondering of late as not only has the amount of spam I receive been increasing, but increasingly, it's in French.  I mean, why?  Sure, I watch French language movies with subtitles, but I can't recall the last time I visited a French language website, well, apart from one about Playcraft Railways, the now defunct UK subsidiary of Joueff, but I only looked at the English version.  Moreover, I certainly didn't give the site any email details.  Clearly, my email details, most specifically the email address I use for The Sleaze, (which was publicly available for many years), has found its way onto some French spammer's list, despite the .co.uk suffix clearly indicating that I'm in the UK.  Spam, in general, tends to come in waves, following particular themes, according to which spammers are active at any one time.  Prior to the French language wave, I'd recently weathered a lengthy phase of 'warnings' as to how all my files were going to be wiped from cloud storage if I didn't settle my overdue invoice.  Which would be quite a feat as I don't use cloud storage - it's inherently insecure and open to hacking.  Then there are the phases of fake cyber-blackmail threats, which I've discussed before.  Actually, the latest of these was incredibly dumb, even by spammer standards, sending three identical e-mails, each winding up by demanding a different amount or those non-existent videos would be released.  What a stupid prick.

But getting back to the French language spam - it isn't the only weird internet phenomena afflicting me at present.  Facebook has taken to slipping stuff into my timeline that has no relevance to my interactions there, or my general browsing history.  Now, most of it, though irrelevant, is at least relatively harmless - people doing DIY and the like.  (Although, what is irritating is that I keep clicking on the 'not interested' option and Facebook assures me 'You'll see fewer posts like this', but guess what?  That's right, the very next time I check in, it is more of the same, often the same accounts, to the point that I have to block them entirely to stop seeing them).  But of late, it has taken a distinctly sinister turn, with them interpolating various extreme right-wing UK politicians and 'personalities' into my stream.  Over the past couple of weeks I've been forced to block Rupert Lowe, Nigel Farage, Reform UK and, just today, Darren 'Crafty Wank' Grimes.  I mean, really?  I'd love to know exactly which of my contacts on Facebook or what activity I've engaged in which might suggest that I might be interested in following neo-Nazis?  Really crap neo-Nazis at that.  Is it part of some sinister strategy by Trump-supporting Meta to use its platform to promote his local buddies?  Or, as I noted at the start of this post, is this some kind of bizarre payback for my having unknowngly transgressed some online law?  If so, which one?  Or maybe it is just some more general form of cosmic karma for something I've done?  (Although, obviously, these days I lead an entirely blameless life, doing good deeds and being nice to furry animals and small children - not to mention regularly feeding the local ducks and swans, geese too, if they turn up).  So just why are the Gods of the web trying to irritate me to death with French language spam and British fascists?  Who knows?  I certainly don't.