Social networks are not static. Its functionalities and algorithms are evolving. Their rules are also changing to achieve an ecosystem in which they keep us hooked for more and more time. When new changes are applied to a social network like Instagram, there are always users who do their best to skip them. If we violate Instagram rules, the network will end up deleting our account, which is what is known as a ban. However, there is another measure that is becoming more and more popular, and it is known as shadowban. Is it real or is it an urban legend?
How is a ban different from a shadowban?
In computer jargon, the fact that an account or profile ends up being removed for breaking the rules. This term does not only apply to social networks, as it already existed in forums and even in online games. The word comes from the English banwhich means prohibition.
In a lifetime ban, your account is locked or removed from the server. There can be many reasons why a moderator — or moderation automatism — decides to kick you out of a community. From breaking the rules to receiving a massive report by people who don’t like you.
However, some social networks penalize practices that are not lawful, but that are not serious enough to expel the user. This is when we start talking about shadowbana concept that many say is a myth.
What is really the shadowban?
Shadowban is a type of silent ban that applies to those who are breaking some rules or are misusing the tools of a platform to take advantage.
Basically, the shadownban turns the user into a kind of ghost. Your publications will no longer have such an impact and almost all is lost engagement.. Your interactions with other users will drop drastically. And the worst thing is that the user will never be notified that they have a shadowban. This condition can apparently be reversed with time and good behavior.
For what reasons can I be shadowbanned on Instagram?
There are several reasons that many users have been discovering. Instagram has never commented on shadowbanning, so there is no official guide to shed any light on it either. However, these are some practices that can lead to a shadowban:
- Purchase of followers
- Exceed the number of daily likes
- Automate account with bots
- You use irrelevant hashtags per system to grab attention.
- Do follow-unfollow of accounts in short periods to inflate the number of followers.
- Skipping some points of Instagram’s terms and conditions.
Is the shadowban real or is it an urban legend?
Some experts in social networks affirm that this shadowban on networks like Instagram is a myth. According to them, an account that has thousands of followers and less than 100 likes in a publication does not have any special condition, but rather that the social network is not working well. However, here we could enter into the debate about whether they are right or if what they want is for us to hire them so that they are the ones who resolve the ballot for us.
In any case, in other social networks, the shadowban exists and you can see it with your own eyes. Twitter, for example, often hide replies in threads when the profile usually comments on irrelevant things. And surprise, you have never heard the official team talk about the shadowban technique.
