Not receiving engagement on your Twitter account? It could be due to a Twitter shadowban. Learn how to test your own Tweets for a Twitter shadow ban.

Key Points:

• Why Does Twitter Shadowban Accounts?

• Types Of Twitter Shadowbans

• How Do You Know If You Are Shadowbanned On Twitter?

• How To Remove Shadowban On Twitter?

• Frequently Asked Questions

Why Does Twitter Shadowban Accounts?

Before we get into how to remove Twitter shadow bans, understanding why you might have triggered one is key to solving the problem.

There are a variety of reasons why a Twitter account might be placed under a shadow ban including:

• Changing your Twitter handle or other account details repeatedly

• Inactivity (not logging in for a month or longer)

• Interacting with accounts that violate Twitter's Community Guidelines

• Interacting with spammy accounts or accounts that have more following than followers

• Excessive Tweeting

• Posting spammy content

• Post the same content from multiple accounts

• Mass following and unfollowing of users

• Posting hate speech, or other content that violate's the platform's rules

• You've been blocked by a lot of users

• Purely technical reasons such as changes to Twitter's algorithm

Any or all of the above can affect your account's standing and impact your account's credibility, but not every shadow ban is equal in severity or impact.

Types Of Twitter Shadowbans

So what type of shadowban is your Twitter profile suffering from? There are four major types, and Twitter's signals determine which of the four is applied to your account.

Keep in mind that you could be experiencing more than one of these types of bans at the same time, so if you've confirmed that your account's visibility is unchanged in the search results that doesn't mean that your account's status is all clear, just that you're not experiencing a search ban.

Search Suggestion Ban

A search suggestion ban results in an account not appearing in search suggestions or People search results. This means that other users won't have your account recommended in their sidebar or even search page. In other words, your account won't populate search suggestions.

Search Ban

A search ban results in a user's Tweets being hidden from the search results (including hashtag feeds). This is different from a search suggestion ban in that it affects all search visibility including Tweets - not just account recommenations.

Ghost Ban

Ghost bans result in hiding reply Tweets of the affected user. This means that even if you reply to a Thread, your replies will be invisible to anyone reading that thread - but you'll have no way of knowing, other than a significant drop in engagement.

Reply Deboosting

If you violate Twitter's rules, your replies may be hidden and only appear when a user clicks Show More Replies - this won't apply if a user is following you.

How Do You Know If You Are Shadowbanned On Twitter?

The tricky thing about a Twitter shadowban is that you might not realize you're under one for a while. It can be easier to tell if you're running multiple Twitter accounts and notice a sudden decline in Twitter user engagement, but the average Twitter account could go months - or even longer - under a shadow ban without the owner realizing it.

So how can you tell if you're dealing with a shadow ban?

Symptoms Of Being Shadowbanned On Twitter

Your account might be suffering from a Twitter shadowban if any or all of the following apply to you:

• You post consistently, but you're experiencing decreased engagement.

• Your Tweets aren't appearing in search results (even hashtag feeds).

• Non-followers are unable to view your Tweets.

Test From A Reference Account

The first step to testing for a shadowban is to create an unbiased reference account to compare with. Try logging into this account from an incognito browser window for added anonymity.

From your reference account, you can do the following:

• View a thread that you've recently replied to and see if your replies are visible. By comparing the same links on your active accounts vs test accounts you can determine your visibility.

• Search for your username or Tweets using the search bar and the filter from:username

Use Third Party Tools

Many users also opt for third party automation tools to help test for a shadow ban. These tools can help you determine which type of ban you're suffering from, so that you can take targeted action.

Be careful not to use any third party tools that require handing over personal information - all you should need is the username of the account you want to test, that's it.

A few of the top Twitter shadowban test tools include:

• HiSubway's Twitter Shadowban Test

• Circleboom

• Shadowban.Yuzurisa

If you tested for a shadowban and came up with a negative test result, congratulations! Otherwise, move on to the next step.

How To Remove Shadowban On Twitter?

Now that you know your account's status, and that Twitter's algorithm is hiding your content, you can start taking action.

Wait It Out

Usually, a shadow ban lasts anywhere from 24-72 hours - but this depends on the severity. Still, it's best to wait it out and re-test your account to see if your account status has been restored.

Delete Problematic Content

If you suspect that you've been banned for specific Tweets, make an effort to delete the offending content. This also applies to spammy behavior, like posting the same content over and over.

Spammy behavior includes hashtags that are irrelevant, using online tools to schedule the same irrelevant content repeatedly, and posting irrelevant replies on other user's Tweets.

Stop Any Violating Activities

If you're repeatedly following and unfollowing users, Tweeting excessively in a short period of time, following suspicious accounts, or violating Twitter's Community guidelines with abusive content, such behavior could result in a shadow ban. This also includes posting the same content from multiple Twitter accounts.

Give it a rest, and go back to posting quality content.

Contact Twitter Support

Once you've gone through all of the above, and given your account 24-72 hours to reset, test again. If you're still experiencing a shadow ban, try contacting Twitter support to explain your situation and request additional insight.

Frequently Asked Questions