Shadowban or Shadowbaning is a «hidden» blocking of content published on social networks, which loses all visibility; disappearing from the feeds of users who do not follow the affected account.
This means that the affected account cannot reach new users; since the only way to see it is to access the affected account’s profile.
It should be noted that usually, Shadowbane is applied by companies when the account is carrying out a series of practices that go against the rules of each social network.
It does not matter if it is done consciously or unconsciously, because when the algorithms detect this pernicious behavior, they penalize the account; subtracting all visibility and preventing the content from reaching new users.
This penalty usually goes unnoticed by the affected account; especially if there is no continuous monitoring of the publications.
For this reason it is very important to periodically review the reach, performance and interaction of publications.
The Instagram shadowban
Usually, the problem is usually the use of unauthorized third-party applications; repetitive actions performed by bots, the use of unauthorized hashtags, among others.
It is important to keep in mind that you should avoid giving unnatural likes, following or unfollowing more than 60 accounts every hour or making massive comments.
To pass the quality filter, simply publish in a natural way, creating unique and different content.
Interact with other accounts, but do it in a normal way.
For affected accounts, it is best to stop using the platform for a few days; remove problematic hashtags or content, block access to the account from all untrusted applications and, if possible, convert the personal account to a professional account.
YouTube shadowban
YouTube has several different algorithms, so it can be complicated to know what has happened to receive one of these penalties. However, it is known that all posts on banned topics are hidden; as well as offensive content. YouTube also does not tolerate hate speech or sexually explicit content.
To avoid shadowbanning, explicit content that does not comply with the platform’s rules should be avoided. You should also not use profanity; avoid insults and all those that may encourage hate speech or discrimination. It is also very important to respect copyrights, uploading only original content.
It should be noted that in the case of YouTube, the platform warns of the infringement, so there is the option to appeal to avoid the shadowban. shadowban on social networks
The Twitter shadowban
Twitter also seeks to eliminate hate speech from its network, for this purpose it launched in 2018 the QFD; a filter that limits the scope of publications based on the behavior shown by users’ accounts, in addition to the type of messages they publish.
To avoid shadowban on Twitter, violent content; offensive language and swear words should be removed.
It is also not a good idea to schedule a lot of content to be published together. If the algorithm detects that a publication overloads the feed with automated publications, this account will be blocked.
Finally, replies should not be automated either, always using the same sentence, the same GIF or the same image.
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