Also called reach restriction
Shadowban is the informal term for a platform quietly reducing an account's distribution without notifying it or removing the content.
Platforms generally reject the word while acknowledging the mechanism: content that may breach guidelines can be made ineligible for recommendation surfaces while remaining visible to existing followers. The effect is a sharp drop in reach with no message explaining it.
Diagnosis is difficult by design. Reach falls for many ordinary reasons — seasonality, format changes, a run of weaker posts — and creators frequently attribute a normal decline to a penalty, then change strategy based on that belief.
Where the concept genuinely matters is as an argument for not depending on one platform. A distribution channel that can be reduced without explanation or appeal is not infrastructure you own.
In practice
Reach dropping 80% overnight and staying there, while follower count is stable and the account was posting normally, is the pattern people describe.
Common mistake
Reacting by posting more. If distribution is restricted, volume amplifies nothing and consumes the effort better spent on owned channels.
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