Shadow banned

Have you noticed a abrupt decline in your social media engagement? Has your content stopped surfacing in people’s feeds?

If that’s the case, you could have been shadow banned. 

Social media platforms have publicly denied the act of shadow banning. But platforms have also acknowledged that their algorithms tend to play a part in which content is given air time and boosted.

Although platforms might not technically shadow ban accounts, their algorithms could still be minimizing public exposure to your content without letting you know.

What does shadow banned mean?

Shadow banned means that your social post has been blocked or restricted in some way without you receiving any warning.

The concept of shadow banning started getting popularity around 2018 when political conservative account owners alleged they were being shadow banned. 

How to know if you’re shadow banned

• Engagement on your content has gone down. If you noticed that your content is suddenly receiving fewer and fewer likes and comments, there’s a likely possibility that fewer people are seeing it.
• Your posts aren’t showing up on public feeds. If your posts aren’t surfacing on the explore pages or any searches, you’re missing out on possible engagement and new followers.  

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How to avoid getting shadow banned

• Follow the terms of service. It’s easy to look past the terms of service, but if you think you’ve been shadowbanned, examine the terms to see if your account is in violation. 
• Don’t spam content. Social media algorithms don’t like seeing the same thing repeatedly. Experiment with different versions of content and other themes.
• Audit your hashtags. Ensure you are using hashtags that are relevant to your content and aren’t using any banned hashtags.