A cartoonist and satirist who was branded a "whore" and a "witch bitch", among other insults, after uploading caricatures of Joseph and Michelle Muscat has alerted the police cybercrime unit.

Miriam Galea, a translator based in Brussels, regularly posts satirical drawings inspired from stories in Malta and around the world.

Two drawings she published last week were inspired by photos that Michelle Muscat posted to her social media, revealing her new blonde look.

One drawing shows Muscat posing for a photo with the caption: "Thank God for those konsulenzi [consultancies] my dears! Ir-raġel dejjem jikrieh u jien dejjem nisbieħ! [My husband gets uglier while I get prettier!]

The caption came in the wake of a Times of Malta exposé revealing that Muscat was wired €60,000 for consultancy fees from a Swiss company, which had received money from Steward Healthcare.

The drawings were inspired by pictures Michelle Muscat posted to social media.

The other drawing is a mockup of a book cover, showing an octopus bearing Joseph Muscat's head embracing a mermaid bearing Michelle Muscat's head, and carrying the title: Is-Sirena u l-Qarnita (The Mermaid and the Octopus: A grim fairytale).

The title refers to the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry report published last July, which said the culture of impunity in the Muscat administration was like an octopus that originated in Castille and spread throughout government entities.

The caricature that sparked the whole controversy.

Galea says after posting the caricatures, she began receiving hate comments accusing her of dehumanising Michelle Muscat.

Among a number of insults, she was called "pig poop", while another described her as a "landfill and a sewage pipe of PeNis', capitalising the letters in reference to the Nationalist Party.

"I am neither intimidated nor surprised by such bullying and hate speech, having witnessed it on other people and when I myself spoke publicly in the past," she said.

"But I still find it dangerous and unacceptable, especially in our country in which a journalist has been murdered."

"The fact that Daphne Caruana Galizia was brought up in the comments attacking me is no coincidence, as she was demonised and bullied for criticising the government," Galea said.

"One would think that after experiencing the murder of a journalist who was demonised for criticising the people in power, Maltese people would have learnt, but sadly many still haven't."

She said minister Owen Bonnici and EU Commissioner Helena Dalli should address these issues at at a conference on Thursday titled 'Combatting and Preventing Hate Speech'.

In addition to the insults, Galea said critics had started to rally larger groups of trolls to report her profile, leading to Facebook to automatically warn her that if she did not desist, her page and account could be suspended.