Shadowban

A shadowban is an unannounced reduction of a account's distribution: posts stop appearing in feeds, search or hashtags without any notification to the author. The account works normally from the inside, which is the point of the "shadow".

Platforms rarely use the word, but most now admit the practice under other names: Instagram has account status screens showing whether your content is "eligible for recommendation", TikTok describes content it does not recommend into the For You feed. So the honest phrasing is reduced distribution, and it is often visible in those settings rather than truly hidden.

The classic causes are repetitive behavior that looks automated (identical comments, mass-following), borderline content categories each platform lists, and spammy hashtag use. The classic false alarm is an ordinary reach drop: distribution varies wildly post to post, and a bad week is usually just a bad week.

Before diagnosing a shadowban, check the platform's own account status page, then test whether a fresh post surfaces in search from a logged-out account. Diagnose from evidence, not from a views counter and a forum thread.

Related terms: Reach · Impressions