Ask Trish: Shadowbanning

How social platforms quietly limit content reach and why it happens.

Oct 29, 2024

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By Trisha Prabhu

Hey Trish, heard about shadowbanning — curious if you can explain it pls!

Hi there, and welcome back to another week of Ask Trish! I hope you’re well and enjoying a wonderful end to October. For my fellow Halloween fanatics #boo, I hope you enjoy a spooky, candy-filled Halloween this Thursday. (Though I’m long past trick-or-treating, I’m very excited to hand out some candy!)

Thank you so much to this week’s question-er for the fascinating, relevant, – and appropriately, spooky – question. “Shadowbanning” has indeed been the subject of a lot of interest and frustration in recent years. Some folks have spent hundreds of hours investigating whether they – or someone else – has been “shadowbanned” on the internet. Given all of the attention – and because we haven’t covered this on Ask Trish yet! – I think it’s a great idea to briefly dive in, and understand: (i) what exactly is shadowbanning? (ii) And how has it affected digital citizens?

Sound like a plan? Let’s get into it:

First and foremost, what exactly is “shadowbanning”? It’s a technique leveraged by social media platforms and other digital forums for speech that minimizes the reach that a given user or set of user(s)’ speech has. Put more simply, it means that while you may still be able to say anything you want on the platform, the platform won’t amplify what you’re saying – so hardly anyone will see it. In this sense, it’s just a softer form of “moderation” – rather than being blocked, platforms take your megaphone away. Depending on the platform, it can be relatively easy or difficult to identify shadowbanning. Many users report a sudden drop-off in likes and replies, or note that their page or their group’s page is no longer recommended to other users or doesn’t appear in the search box. Some platforms are quite explicit about the fact that a user has been shadowbanned – though they use less scary terms, like “de-amplification.” In 2022, for instance, Instagram unveiled a feature for professional users called “Account Status,” which indicates when those users’ content has been deemed ineligible for recommendation to other users. Such features have garnered praise from many social media users.

But why does any user get “shadowbanned”? I mean, it sounds kind of unfair? What’s the deal? Well, according to Meta, posts are demoted based on the company’s Content Distribution Guidelines. Says the company: “…our Content Distribution Guidelines describe the types of content we think may either be problematic or low quality, so we reduce its distribution in Feed for everyone. These reductions, also called demotions, are rooted in our commitment to the values of “Responding to People’s Direct Feedback, Incentivizing Publishers to Invest in High-Quality Content, and Fostering a Safer Community.” Some folks endorse this approach, arguing that relying on algorithms alone can push harmful, lower-quality content to users. But others have qualms. Plenty of users have experienced mistaken shadowbanning – the product of an imprecise content moderation system – that can then be incredibly difficult to remedy via the platform. And while Instagram now tells creators that their content may be de-amplified, it didn’t always do that – leaving many creators in the dark. Plenty of platforms still aren’t very transparent about shadowbanning, and when they are, they often won’t provide a clear/reason or explanation for their decision (let alone a mechanism to appeal the call). 

But does this really matter, anyway? I mean, who is this really affecting? More folks than you’d think. According to a 2022 study conducted by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), “..nearly one in ten U.S. social media users believe they have been shadowbanned, and those users are disproportionately male, Republican, Hispanic, or non-cis gendered.” As part of their report, CDT expressed worries that that evidence is proof that shadowbanning is marginalizing certain voices and perspectives. On the other hand, though, CDT acknowledged that shadow banning is a crucial way to fight back against users that challenge moderation systems, e.g., users that have created “abusive sockpuppet accounts” to get around bans. As y’all know well, there’s a lot of cruddy stuff out there on the internet…and shadowbanning may just be ensuring that we have access to a higher-quality information ecosystem.

So, in short: it’s complicated. Shadowbanning’s explicit impact may seem harmful, but its indirect impact of minimizing the reach of harmful content may have serious value. How to balance the two is the question…

I hope you found this post informative. For those of you wanting to learn more, I’d suggest that you use this post as a launchpad for additional research. And while you’re doing that research, if anything internet/tech-related makes you think, “Huh. I wonder why that is…,” please share your thoughts and musings with me here. We’ve still got two months left in 2024, a really good chunk of time with which to cover a range of different topics! I can’t wait to hear from y’all – thank you so much in advance for contributing your perspective.

Happy Halloween,

Trish

@asktrish

Happy Halloween! 🎃 This week, Trish takes on a spooky topic…shadowbanning. What is it? Why can it be controversial? Get the full scoop in this week’s post — link in bio ⬆️⬆️

♬ original sound – Ask Trish

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