If you’ve noticed a lack of engagement on TikTok recently, you could be experiencing the infamous TikTok shadow ban.

But what actually causes it? How do you know if it’s affected your account? How can you avoid one? And what can you do to get unbanned? We’ve got all the answers below.

What Is Shadow Banning On Tiktok?

A Shadowban on TikTok refers to the automated process of making a creator’s content less visible to the audience by TikTok. The breach of TikTok terms and guidelines usually causes it.

Shadowbanning on TikTok is basically a form of warning or a punishment enforced as a penalty. This penalty results in a visible decrease in engagement. The worst drawback of this shadowban penalty is that the TikTok platform never notifies the content creator about it, and the content’s viewership continues to decline.

It is usually found through the analytical data by the user that its content became a victim of the silent Shadowban. It doesn’t mean that your content becomes completely camouflaged, but the engagement of the content reduces significantly. In 2023, TikTok stats in a report showed that the app generated 272.7 million downloads worldwide.

With such a vast audience, getting a TikTok shadowban is nothing less than a calamity for the content maker. It is TikTok’s way of keeping its platform free from spam, abuse, and inappropriate content. This restricted visibility negatively impacts the growth of your account. Shadow ban on TikTok is not official. However, It has been keenly observed that Tiktok quietly follows this practice!

To advoid ban from TikTok, it's better to understand TikTok Policy
TikTok Shop Prohibited Products Policy

How to Tell If You’ve Been Shadow Banned on Tiktok

Getting shadow banned can be extremely frustrating. What makes it even more frustrating is that you might not even realize that you’re being shadow banned in the first place. TikTok doesn’t notify you when your account visibility gets restricted, and that’s exactly why it’s called a “shadow” ban. So how do you figure out whether you’ve been shadow banned Tiktok?

In some cases, your engagement may be dropping simply because the quality of your content isn’t up to par. But in general, here are a few telltale signs that your account has been put on timeout with a TikTok shadow ban.

Your numbers see a significant drop

The first and most obvious sign of a TikTok shadow ban is a drop in your views, likes, and shares. While there are bound to be some fluctuations here and there, a massive nosedive is cause for concern. This is particularly true if you’ve been consistently witnessing a rise in those numbers, and it suddenly stops.

You’re no longer showing up on “For You” pages

The “For You” page is where your content usually ends up if your account is doing well on TikTok. Usually, your content will be displayed to users who regularly interact with accounts similar to yours. However, when accounts get shadow-banned on TikTok, their content is no longer visible on the “For You” pages of relevant users.

So get your friends to check if your content has suddenly disappeared from their “For You” pages. This is another effective way to cross-check whether TikTok has decided to restrict your content visibility on the app.

You’re no longer slowing up in relevant searches

Similarly, a restriction on your account will also affect your visibility in searches. This means that your content won’t show up even if users search for the keywords and hashtags you’re using. Get a friend to search for the keywords and hashtags in your content to see if your content is showing up in the results.

Your videos aren’t uploading

If you’ve been consistently experiencing issues with video uploads, this could be another sign that your account is shadowbanned by TikTok. When an account is under a shadow ban, videos may spend a long time “processing” or “under review.” If this has been happening for a long time although your internet seems to be working fine, you might have been hit with a shadow ban.

How Long Do Shadow Bans Last On Tiktok?

How can you measure the length of something that might not exist? And really, how do you measure the unknowable?

This is getting extremely philosophical, but the answer is probably 14 days.

If you don’t do anything, your shadowban will probably last around two weeks. Some users have reported shadowbans lasting only 24 hours, while others have suggested up to a month. The general consensus, though, is 14 days.

How To Get Rid of a Shadow Ban TikTok

There’s no secret formula on how to reverse a shadow ban. You'll most likely have to ride this time period out and take a break from producing content on the platform.

However, here are three steps you can take to help your case and prevent shadow bans on TikTok in the future:

1. Delete Your Flagged Content

2. Follow TikTok’s Community Guidelines

3. Avoid Spam-like Behavior

#1: Delete Your Flagged Content

Did you get a solid warning from TikTok that your content was in violation of their Community Guidelines?

If so, it’s time to clean up the ol’ account. 

Remove any content that’s been flagged as inappropriate by the app to show TikTok you’ve learned your lesson.

Then, make note of what got you flagged to avoid becoming a repeat offender.  

#2: Follow TikTok’s Community Guidelines

If you’re unsure what caused your forced hiatus from the FYP, cross-reference TikTok’s Community Guidelines and assess whether any of your videos could have triggered a violation.

Take note of your videos, captions, and hashtags — is your content giving TikTok’s algorithm cause for alarm? 

Follow Community Guidelines to a tee to get things back to normal ASAP.

#3: Avoid Spam-like Behavior

A sudden decrease in engagement could lead you to think you should do more — like mass post and comment — to get your numbers back up.

But doing this could be seen as "spam-like behavior," leading you to be mistaken for a bot and given a prolonged shadow ban.

Apart from following the app's Community Guidelines, it's hard to know for certain why your account might be deprioritized.

And with a heavy reliance on automated moderation, TikTok's technology can get it wrong.

However, the good news is that shadow bans don't last forever — so if you're on a TikTok timeout right now, sit tight.

You'll be back on the field in no time.

Conclusion 

Grow your TikTok presence alongside your other social channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule and publish posts for the best times, engage your audience, and measure performance.