Is Instagram Shadow ban real? Here’s what the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri has to say
The term Shadow ban is one of Instagram biggest topics of debate and frustration. Mostly because people use the term to mean different things.
When the term just came about several years ago, people used it to describe a rumor that Instagram could hide your content from everyone else but you, as a punishment even though they had done nothing wrong.
First let’s agree on something?
Instagram doesn’t go around trying to put their random users in a s*** list. Making their users happy align with their business goals, so there’s always an explanation other than Instagram wanting to randomly punish you!
Some people believed Instagram would do this to:
make you put money in ads
to silence your voice
to punish people who used ‘too many’ hashtags
to punish people who used a banned hashtag
Unfortunately it was a rumor people easily believed in and spread, because it made sense: It was an easy way to explain their lower reach, as the platform was growing in users at a very fast pace. As Instagram grows in numbers of accounts, people follow more and more accounts and see less content from each account they follow, including yours or mine.
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But was does Instagram Shadow ban really mean?
In 2018, in the same event where Instagram explained the algorithm to a select number of members of the press, they announced that shadow ban wasn’t a thing.
“Shadow banning is not a real thing, and Instagram says it doesn’t hide people’s content for posting too many hashtags or taking other actions.” (via Tech Crunch)
The way I read the quote above, Instagram was referring at this exact definition of shadow ban: a mysterious reason why Instagram would just decide to block people’s content from their audience because they used all the hashtags, or used other features that are available to them.
However more recently people started using the term shadow ban referring to their account had been blocked or some of their content being blocked.
That usually happens if there’s any infringement of Instagram Terms of Use (which includes Instagram Community Guidelines, which by the way was just updated in December 2020.
A couple of times I mentioned shadow banned not being a thing on Instagram in my posts, and people got back to me and said:
“Then how to you explain Instagram hiding content from sex workers?”
“Why can’t I post about my cannabis brand?”
As per Instagram Community Guidelines:
Offering sexual services, buying or selling firearms, alcohol, and tobacco products between private individuals, and buying or selling illegal or prescription drugs (even if legal in your region) are also not allowed.
So in my eyes, people were saying “I’ve been shadow banned” for two different reasons:
when jumping to conclusions when they saw their engagement getting lower (and if this is the case for you, I highly recommend you learn our Superposts™ Strategy in our course Organic Engagement Pro)
when they infringed Instagram’s terms of use or community guidelines, knowingly or not — which could mean they were hacked or bought follower bots and used apps to automatically like and comment, etc.
But on an Instagram live on Friday, the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri mentioned a 3rd meaning to this word. So enough about my take on this. Let’s hear it from the source!
What is Instagram Shadow ban and Is Instagram Shadow ban real? Here’s what the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri has to say
On Friday last week, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram hosted a live chat with content creator Jackie Aina.
They chatted about how everything from the algorithm and chronological feed to shadow banning, so I recommend you watch it all.
According to Mosseri, there are 3 instances where people have been using the term shadow ban.
When their accounts have been taken down and they don’t know why, this usually happen if they have infringed the terms of service or community guidelines or been hacked or shared their password with an app that will get you followers, for example
When their content has been taken down
When there’s an issue with content distribution
“One thing we need to do better on Instagram is that we need to get more people using two factor (identification) — quick plug for two-facts, if keeps you safe — Two: we need to provide better appeals. Our appeals are at a much better place for content, so if a piece of content has been taken down, than for an account. We are way behind there, so we got to do a lot there”.
As for how to solve the ‘don’t know why’ part of the equation: Mosseri says they need to do a better job as letting the users understand why. He uses the example that maybe someone posted this 10 minute video and there’s a slur or a word in the middle of it that goes against the standards. If they have a hard fast rules against that (such as hate speech) the whole thing can be taken down and the user will not know why.
So my conclusion is this: can we just remove the ‘shadow’ part of the term and say just ban? “I was banned”, “my account was banned”, and understand that even if we don’t know why, it can only be:
we infringed the terms and rules
someone infringed the terms and rules on our account (if we were hacked)
Instagram made a mistake
For that 3rd one, we can try appeals.
Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and Done For You content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021). This year she also launched Your Template Club, a Canva Template subscription to provide social media managers and Instagram savvy business owners with content template designed for engagement in their inbox.
Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneur and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.
