What Is a Shadowban on X?
A shadowban is the informal name for X quietly limiting how far your posts or replies travel, so fewer people see them while your account looks normal to you. X describes this kind of limit as visibility filtering, part of its "Freedom of Speech, Not Reach" approach to posts that may break its rules.
How it shows up
- Your replies sit behind "Show more replies" or "probable spam" on other people's posts.
- Your account stops appearing in search suggestions.
- Impressions drop sharply across every post at once, with no change in what you write.
A slow week is more often weaker content or a quieter audience. A sudden, total drop is the warning sign.
Checking your account
In 2026 X began testing a tool called Under the hood, at x.com/i/under_the_hood, that shows aggregate counts of labels that can affect your posts' visibility over the past month. X announced it from its XOpenSource account, and early testers report it is available to only some accounts. Third-party shadowban checkers guess from the outside and can be wrong.
Example
A new account replies with the same link under 40 posts in an hour. X's spam systems flag the pattern, and the replies get folded away. The account owner sees nothing unusual in their own timeline.
Why it matters for growth
- Limits usually follow behaviour. Repeated identical replies, mass mentions, link spam and automation are the common triggers. X's authenticity policy and automation rules list what crosses the line.
- Recovery is slow but normal. Stop the behaviour, post original content at a steady pace and give it a few weeks.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Does X admit to shadowbanning?
X avoids the word but confirms it reduces the visibility of some posts and accounts, and it has shown labels on some restricted posts since 2023.
How long does a shadowban last?
X does not publish a fixed length. Most limits ease once the behaviour that triggered them stops.
Last checked November 2026.
Run your next post through the post checker to catch spammy patterns before you publish.