Shadowban
what it means
The defining feature is that nobody tells you. Platforms have generally denied doing it in the form users describe, while acknowledging various forms of reduced distribution.
Having your content quietly suppressed without being told, so you post into a void.
the origin story
Forum moderation vocabulary from the 2000s, where problem users' posts were made invisible to others without their knowledge.
It became one of the most contested words in creator culture, because it's unfalsifiable from the outside — a drop in reach looks identical whether it's suppression or just a bad post. Platforms now publish "reduced distribution" policies that describe something very close to it under other names.
in the wild
I've gone from 20,000 views to 200.
Sounds like a shadowban.
Everyone thinks they're shadowbanned.
Sometimes the post is just bad.
how to use it
- Discussing content suppression
- Creator conversations about reach
- Writing about platform moderation
- As an automatic explanation for low engagement
- Without acknowledging it's hard to verify
- In technical writing, where platform terminology is more precise
related terms
receipts
Community feedback
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