Do you suddenly feel like your profile is almost invisible on Twitter with a strange and notable decrease in your engagement like no retweets, traffic, likes, comments, and other social activity? If so, then there is a pretty good chance you are going through a shadowban.
You may have heard words like stealth banning or ghost banning; they are essentially the same as a Twitter shadowban which can be annoying and frustrating all at once.
Now let us first understand what a shadowban is and learn how to avoid being in this annoying situation.
What Does It Mean To Be Shadowbanned on Twitter?
A shadowban can be a social media nightmare if you don’t understand how to prevent or rectify it.
Twitter shadowban indicates that you have been blocked from posting or engaging on Twitter in all forms. Your activity is also at a halt without you receiving any official notification about it.
Like all famous social media apps, Twitter also has its Rules and Policies that you must adhere to. If your content on Twitter violates their guidelines, you will be shadowbanned. In this case, all your posts will disappear from your feed, and Twitter users won’t be able to engage with you.
In their Terms of Service, Twitter stated, “We may also remove or refuse to distribute any content on the services, limit distribution or visibility of any content on the service.”
Twitter does not endorse or allow spam. A Twitter shadowban allows the spammers to keep posting. However, it simply restricts the visibility of their posts. Since no notification is given to the spanner, they don’t instantly start searching for ways to bypass the shadowban.
What Are the Types of Shadowbans?
There are 3 kinds of shadowbans on Twitter:
- Thread shadowbans – Twitter restricts the visibility of your comments to other users.
- Search Suggestion Shadowbans – Twitter makes your profile unsearchable for anyone who searches for you on the Twitter search engine.
- Search ban – your tweets become invisible to all the users, even if they use the exact search words to look for your tweet.
Reasons for Being Shadowbanned on Twitter
Now that you have understood what a shadowban essentially is. You might find yourself being shadowbanned on Twitter for one of the following reasons:
- If your tweets contain abusive, harsh, or humiliating language for other users.
- If your account is new (less than a year old), you may face a shadowban.
- If you are repeatedly spamming or rapidly tweeting.
- If your followers’ ratio is suspicious (also, less than 500 followers).
- If you are replying to tweets using uncertified automation tools.
- If you are excessively tweeting to win a contest.
- If you are using too many generic hashtags in your tweets to get attention.
How To Know if You Have Been Shadowbanned?
If you’re thinking: am I facing a shadowban? Here is how you can be sure.
It can be frustrating not knowing why your Twitter engagement has come to a halt. This is the most obvious sign that you are facing a Twitter shadowban.
Once it has come to your notice that all of your interactions have stopped, you can take a shadowban test to verify if you have been shadowbanned.
The Twitter shadowban check is a test that you can take to verify your concern about being shadowbanned. It is a simple process. All you have to do is enter your username and click on the “check” button. Within a few seconds, it will notify you of the results.
Another method of checking if you have been shadowbanned is by first logging out of your Twitter account and then searching for your username on Twitter.
If your account or profile is invisible, it is pretty clear that you have been shadowbanned. You can also search the keywords of your last tweet; if your profile still does not appear, it is a Twitter shadowban!
How Long Does the Twitter Shadowban Last, and How To Get Out of One?
If you have taken the shadowban test and it is clear that you have been shadowbanned, you need not worry because the ban won’t last for very long. On average, a Twitter shadowban lasts for about 2 to 3 days.
Don’t panic! Stop tweeting altogether. Excessive tweeting after a shadowban will only aggravate the problem, and subsequently, the duration of your shadowban will increase, and it can even go up to 5 days.
If you stop tweeting, then your shadowban will disappear in 48 hours, tops! So, consider it a break from social media for 48 hours (if you don’t tweet at all following the ban). It may also help remove your interest by going into the settings.
Essentially, there is no way to end a shadowban instantly, so you must deal with the consequences and wait it out.
The best thing you can do is not make it worse and when the ban is removed, be sure to adhere to Twitter’s rules and policies when posting your content.
If your shadowban lasts even after you have stopped tweeting or for longer than 72 hours of inactivity, then it is a cause for concern, and you can contact Twitter support staff to resolve the issue. Hopefully, they will get back to you, and your account should be up and running in no time.
To Wrap Up
A Twitter shadowban can be disappointing if you feel like you did nothing wrong to deserve it. You may not always agree with Twitter’s algorithm and its shadowban practices, but you can surely avoid it by following the steps we have mentioned.
If you have been shadowbanned on Twitter, don’t sweat it. Know that it can last from 48 hours to 72 hours so consider it a little break from social media. Try to assess why you were shadowbanned, to begin with, and avoid those practices in the future. Happy Tweeting!
