Are you struggling to get views on TikTok lately? If this happened suddenly, then there’s a high chance that TikTok has shadowbanned your account for a certain reason. In this guide, we’ll explain how to know if your TikTok account has a shadowban, what could be the cause behind it, and how to fix the issue easily.
TikTok hasn’t discussed this problem officially anywhere but countless users have suffered this fate. Many of the TikTok creators get so demotivated after seeing their hard work go in vain that they stop posting videos while others wait for their reach to come back. This guide will help you get through the situation with ease.
What is a TikTok Shadowban?
A TikTok shadowban is an instance when the platform restricts your account visibility without notifying you. It’s like a temporary ban when your videos stop appearing on other users’ timelines and “For You” pages but isn’t an official action. TikTok hasn’t ever discussed shadow banning in any of its official documents.
Shadowbanning is TikTok’s method of penalizing your account for a certain reason. It could be due to violating TikTok’s community guidelines, behaving like a bot, or not posting on the platform regularly. There are several other reasons why TikTok could punish you temporarily. We’ll take a look at them below.
What happens when your TikTok is Shadowbanned?
When your TikTok account is shadowbanned, your videos will stop appearing in public spaces such as Discover, Search, and For You, but they’ll still be seen by some of your followers. This means your account and content and content isn’t banned on TikTok but are restricted temporarily.
Essentially, your TikTok videos are blocked or muted for a short period of time, possibly due to a Community Guidelines violation. The decreased visibility will lead to a significant drop in your content’s engagement. If you have a Pro account, you can see the drastic change in metrics yourself.
Why does TikTok Shadowban a User?
There are several reasons why TikTok might shadowban your account. The most common one is the repeated violations of TikTok’s Community Guidelines. TikTok states, “We will temporarily or permanently ban accounts and/or users that are involved in severe or repeated on-platform violations [of our Community Guidelines].”
However, there are some instances when TikTok doesn’t officially ban your account but restricts your reach until you start acting like they want you to be on the platform. This is the core purpose of a TikTok shadowban. Let’s take a look at all possible reasons for getting a shadow ban on TikTok.
Posting content that violates Community Guidelines
TikTok will shadowban your account if you are regularly posting videos that violate its Community Guidelines. Here is a list of categories that will violate TikTok’s Community Guidelines:
- Adult content, pornography, sexual activities, or nudity
- Dangerous acts, challenges, and self-harm videos
- Videos with drugs and weapons
- Spreading fake news and misinformation
- Bullying and harassment
- Hateful videos against a community, person, or anything else
- Videos promoting racism, casteism, or any other type of discrimination
- Violent or extremist behavior
- Videos that infringe copyrights (copying videos from someone else)
- Posting movies or series spoilers
If you are posting any such videos on TikTok, it will restrict the engagement of your account temporarily.
Using Banned Hashtags:
If everything is fine with your content, the next reason for your TikTok account getting shadowbanned is the use of banned hashtags. There is a long list of hashtags that are not allowed on the platform, and if you’re using them in your videos, your account will lose its reach.
- #abdl
- #addmysc
- #adulting
- #alone
- #always
- #armparty
- #asiangirl
- #ass
- #assday
- #assworship
- #beautyblogger
- #besties
- #bikinibody
- #boho
- #brain
- #costumes
- #curvygirls
- #date
- #dating
- #desk
- #direct
- #dm
- #edm
- #eggplant
- #elevator
- #girlsonly
- #gloves
- #hardworkpaysoff
- #hawks
- #hotweather
- #humpday
- #hustler
- #ice
- #instasport
- #iphonegraphy
- #italiano
- #kansas
- #kickoff
- #killingit
- #kissing
- #loseweight
- #lulu
- #master
- #mileycyrus
- #milf
- #mirrorphoto
- #models
- #mustfollow
- #nasty
- #newyearsday
- #nudity
- #overnight
- #parties
- #petite
- #pornfood
- #prettygirl
- #pushups
- #rate
- #ravens
- #saltwater
- #samelove
- #selfharm
- #single
- #singlelife
- #skateboarding
- #skype
- #snap
- #snapchat
- #snowstorm
- #sopretty
- #stranger
- #streetphoto
- #sunbathing
- #swole
- #shower
- #shit
- #tag4like
- #tagsforlikes
- #tanlines
- #todayimwearing
- #teens
- #teen
- #thought
- #undies
- #valentinesday
- #workflow
- #Youngmodel
Use of Third-Party Bots & Spam:
If you’ve been engaging in spammy behavior on TikTok, such as liking too many posts at once or following too many people at the same time, TikTok may shadowban your account. Additionally, if you are using any third-party bots or apps to get thousands of likes, comments, or followers, you’re bound to be punished.
Being Inactive for Prolonged Periods:
If you are not active on TikTok for long phases, like months or years, and then come back to post a video, TikTok won’t deliver your videos to many users. You have to post regularly and stay consistent to boost your engagement on TikTok, just like any other social media platform.
Accidental Shadowbanning:
Sometimes, TikTok may shadow-ban you accidentally due to some bugs in new updates. This unintentional penalization may happen even if your content follows TikTok’s Community Guidelines. The good thing is that it goes away on its own after some days and doesn’t require any additional action.
How to Check if You Are Shadowbanned on TikTok?
TikTok doesn’t tell you directly that they don’t like what you’re posting, and they are shadowbanning you. However, there are certain signs you need to look for to check if your TikTok account is shadowbanned. Let’s take a look at them:
1. Engagement has dropped drastically:
The first and the most obvious sign of a TikTok shadowban is the severe drop in your views, likes, comments, and shares. You’ll notice that the engagement on your TikTok videos has dropped significantly in recent times when you are shadowbanned.
If you have a Pro account on TikTok, you can go to your Profile > Three Bars> Account> Creator Tools, and then choose “Analytics.” Here, you can see a detailed look at your recent performances on TikTok.
2. Absence from Search & For You Page:
The next sign you need to look for is if your TikTok videos are appearing in public spaces. To do that, find a friend or a colleague who doesn’t follow you on TikTok and ask them to do a search with the keywords or hashtags that you’re using. If your videos or account doesn’t pop up in the results, you’re shadowbanned.
Another thing you can do is to check with people who regularly find your videos on their “For You” page. If your videos have disappeared from their feed, you can conclude that TikTok is limiting your reach.
3. Uploads are taking longer:
The third sign you need to check is if you’ve been experiencing issues with video uploads lately. If the videos you are trying to upload take more time for ‘processing’ and stay stuck ‘under review’ for longer periods, you’re most likely shadowbanned by TikTok and it’s constantly checking your new videos thoroughly.
How to Remove Your TikTok Shadowban?
Now let’s focus on the most important part i.e. remove Shadowban from your TikTok account. Usually, the curse would go away if you’re not doing anything wrong on its own. However, you can always look for problems and solve them to fix the shadowban and get back your reach.
Here are five things you can do to remove Shadowban from your TikTok account:
1. Remove Videos that Violate Community Guidelines:
Firstly, you have to go through the TikTok Community Guidelines from here. Once you’ve thoroughly read the conditions, check your videos and see if any of your TikToks violate any clause. Sometimes, only the most minor acts would be flagged as a serious threat by TikTok’s algorithm.
So, delete all the TikTok videos that you believe can violate any of the Community Guidelines. This could be a bit complicated as you don’t know which of your videos are the problem. One workaround is to save your videos offline and then delete them. You can always reshare the good ones later.
2. Stop doing Spam:
If you are still using third-party bots and tools to boost your views, likes, or followers, stop doing that right away. It’s a serious violation of TikTok’s Community Guidelines, and you should never do that. Additionally, if you were involved in any sort of manual spam behavior, cease that too.
3. Improve your content quality:
TikTok likes when you’re providing value through your content, and it’s of the highest possible quality. If you were posting low-quality videos to post regularly, you can try changing your strategy. You can start focusing on quality rather than quantity to be in the good books of TikTok.
However, this doesn’t mean that you have to take long breaks from the platform. You still have to be active and consistent to have a good reach and to gain a big base of fans on TikTok.
4. Take a Short Break:
Another thing you can do is to take a short break from TikTok while your shadowban goes away. Usually, a TikTok shadowban lasts for around 14 days. During this period, you can log out of your account or uninstall the app. Once the period has passed, you can come back and start afresh to post exciting videos.
5. Report the Issue to TikTok:
The ultimate step you need to take is to report the problem to TikTok. You can do that once you have verified that there’s nothing wrong with your videos and you have been complying with the Community Guidelines well. Follow these steps to report the shadowban issue to TikTok:
- Launch the TikTok app and go to your profile.
- Now tap the three horizontal lines in the top-right section.
- Next, tap on “Report a Problem” under ‘Support.’
- Choose a topic for the issue.
- Select a suggested category or select “Other.”
- Make sure you explain the issue briefly.
- Finally, submit the report.
Alternatively, you can also email the problem to the TikTok support team at feedback@tiktok.com and info@tiktok.com.
After reporting the problem, you have to wait for around 24 hours before TikTok will respond to it. Make sure you keep notifications of your inbox turned on.
Final Take:
A TikTok shadowban is a fearful instance for all creators. When it affects your account, your hard work will be wasted, and you won’t get the engagement that your videos deserve. Hence, it’s important that you learn how to get rid of the shadowban effectively, or else your career on TikTok will be over.
This is how you can remove the shadowban on your TikTok account and make your videos appear publicly. It’s essential that you are always following the Community Guidelines outlined by TikTok and never use any of the banned hashtags to avoid such problems anytime in the future.
That’s all for this guide. If you have any queries regarding Shadowban, feel free to drop them in the comments. We’ll be glad to assist you more.
Frequently asked questions:
If you’re shadowbanned on TikTok, your account’s visibility will be limited temporarily. Your videos will stop showing in public spaces like searches, For You pages, Discover feed, and other areas. Your followers can still see your videos and you won’t be banned from using TikTok.
Your TikTok videos may get a very low amount of views or 0 views when you are shadowbanned. This usually happens when your video violates TikTok’s Community Guidelines and consists of an element that isn’t allowed on the platform. It could be nudity, cyberbullying, hateful acts, drugs, or other things.
You can figure out the status of your shadowban on TikTok by looking at some simple signs. If the engagement rate of your videos has dropped significantly recently, your videos are not appearing in keyword/ hashtag searches or For You page, and your uploads take longer, then you are likely shadowbanned.
Usually, a TikTok shadowban may last for around 14 days. However, it may take longer if there’s an issue with your account or content. Sometimes, the problem may go away even quicker. It happens when the shadowban was imposed due to a bug in the algorithm, which could be resolved in 3 to 4 days.
This is Saquib, a technology and social media expert with over 10 years of experience in the industry. With a passion for staying up-to-date on the latest developments and trends in the tech and social media world and as a writer, I have been creating informative and engaging content that is easy for readers to understand and enjoy, also published in several leading tech and social media publications and is a regular speaker at industry events. In addition to my writing and speaking engagements, I also work as a consultant, helping businesses grow with the ever-changing tech and social media niche.
