What Is Shadow Banning?

The sinister-sounding term “shadow banning” has been in play recently, mostly thanks to conservatives — including President Donald Trump — accusing Twitter and other technology companies of political bias.

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“Twitter ‘SHADOW BANNING’ prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints,” the president tweeted on July 26. (His tweet was not accurate.)

Here’s a look at shadow banning and why it’s now a political issue.

HISTORY OF SHADOW BANNING

Shadow bans started in the early days of online discussion groups and the tools used to police disruptive participants. Moderators could always just disable the accounts of spammers, harassers or those who were just too argumentative. But sometimes banned users came back with new accounts, prolonging the turmoil and creating a lengthy round of whack-a-mole.

So forums came up with an alternative punishment: the shadow ban. Instead of disabling the target’s account entirely, shadow banning just seals the offending account in a hermetic bubble. The shadow-banned user can still post freely — but no one else sees their messages.

At Reddit, shadow banning was long the only tool available to moderators. It shuts down spam and, in theory, lets internet trolls stew in their own juices until they get bored and drift away.

DOES TWITTER SHADOW BAN USERS?

Twitter says no, although some political conservatives remain unconvinced of that.