shadowban
UK/ˈʃædəʊbæn//ˈʃædoʊbæn/
shadowban verb: to ban a user from a community without their knowledge, allowing them to continue reading and commenting, but rendering their contributions invisible or less visible to other users.
Verb
shadowban (third-person singular simple present shadowbans, present participle shadowbanning, simple past and past participle shadowbanned)
- To ban a user from a community without their knowledge, allowing them to continue reading and commenting, but rendering their contributions invisible or less visible to other users.
- On Wednesday a Vice News story reported that some senior Republican officials were not visible in automatic search results. Vice framed this as “shadow banning” without providing any evidence that it was deliberate.2018 July 27, Jason Wilson, “What is 'shadow banning', and why did Trump tweet about it?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2019
- Over the weekend, Sweeney tweeted that his account had been shadowbanned, meaning that its visibility had been deliberately reduced.2022 December 14, Maya Yang, “Twitter suspends account that monitors flight paths of Elon Musk’s private jet”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2023
- To filter out results without the publisher's knowledge.
Noun
shadowban (plural shadowbans)
- An instance of shadowbanning.
- Is there any basis for the idea that conservatives are being targeted for shadow bans? No – at least not based on what Vice purported to show.2018 July 27, Jason Wilson, “What is 'shadow banning', and why did Trump tweet about it?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2019
- By following the platform's guidelines and treating others with kindness, you'll not only avoid shadowbans but also build a strong and engaged community.2024 June 28, “How to get "unshadowbanned" on Twitter!”, in Circleboom Blog, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2025
- Synonyms:
- hellban
Examples of shadowban in a sentence
- You can also use external software designed to check for shadowbanning.2023 August 24, Steve Kuhn, “How To Get Unshadowbanned on Twitter”, in ITGeared, archived from the original on 11 Sep 2024:
- “Trying to shadowban my boy/but you can’t kill a ghost.”2023 September 5, Joe Coscarelli, “Ghostwriter Returns With an A.I. Travis Scott Song, and Industry Allies”, in The New York Times...
Synonyms of shadowban
Forms of shadowban
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shadowbans |
| present participle | shadowbanning |
| past participle | shadowbanned |
| past | shadowbanned |
| alternative form | shadow ban |
| alternative form | shadow-ban |
| Noun | |
| plural | shadowbans |
Origin of shadowban
From shadow + ban.
Words formed from shadowban
Questions about shadowban
- What does shadowban mean?
- Shadowban means to ban a user from a community without their knowledge, allowing them to continue reading and commenting, but rendering their contributions invisible or less visible to other users.
- How do you use shadowban in a sentence?
- You can also use external software designed to check for shadowbanning.
- What part of speech is shadowban?
- Shadowban can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce shadowban?
- Shadowban is pronounced /ˈʃædoʊbæn/ (US).
- What is the past tense of shadowban?
- The past tense of shadowban is shadowbanned.
Words near shadowban in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shadowban (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Aadenboy-shadowban.wav.
Cite this entry: “shadowban.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shadowban. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.