Not many people know what Twitter shadowban is and how it affects their accounts. However, surely more than one of you have found that your publications are reaching a smaller and smaller audience or that the responses do not have the impact they used to. In a nutshell this is shadowban, the way the social network, now X, tries to limit the reach of an account for some reason.
The main characteristic of the shadowban was that it was carried out without informing the user who owns the account, so they are not aware of the penalty. One of the new developments in this regard is that, a few months ago, Elon Musk stated that they are working to improve shadowban and notify users who have been penalized in this way. As of April, tweets that have limited reach are tagged. The caption it includes is as follows: Limited visibility, this tweet may violate Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct.
This was one of the most common complaints made by Twitter users since they cannot complain about a sanction they do not know they have received, and may lose their account. Instagram has also taken steps in this regard and has a tool similar to the one Twitter wanted to implement, although only for professional accounts. What’s interesting about this is that this is a demonstration that shadowban exists on Instagram, as it was something that was denied to exist.
What is shadowban and for what reasons is it applied?
The shadowban is a limitation of account activity on Twitter. Posts, images, and even videos are not shown to the same number of users as before. The reach of the tweets is drastically reduced and they will also not be included in the For You section of the social network.
It should be noted that, although everyone knows that they exist, it is not a functionality that operates officially. This is why users complain, since it is complicated to appeal the decision or try to lift it. As with Instagram, it is not something that is publicly and openly acknowledged. In reality, it functions as an internal tool for content control and to make the environment within Twitter more respectful.
Twitter’s functionality of notifying users about possible sanctions also allows them to appeal the decision, in case they understand that it is a mistake.
The reasons for which an account has the shadowban sanction are as follows:
- Abusive behavior
- Suspicious account profile
- Fraudulent or inappropriate publications
- Failure to comply with Twitter rules
- Use of bots for the automation of actions in the social network.
- Copyright infringement
- Purchase of followers
How to claim if it is incorrect?
In case users notice that their posts have less reach and there are tweets with tags, they can contact to claim the shadowban on Twitter. In addition to this you can explain why you consider it to be a mistake and the reasons why a tag has been generated in your tweets.
