The notification on the hamburger button has no effect besides showing users they have unread messages.

To read them, use the envelope ✉️ in the collapsing menu.

Sounds like the poal devs are trying to censor you

For all I know it could be someone saying 'Hey theo please read this immediately, your life is in danger' or 'hey theo I'm a really drunk billionaire, and i liked that one poem you wrote, can i wire you one million dollars right now before I sober up?'

But i don't know because i can't open up my notifications on mobile.