What Is Shadowbanning on Instagram?
In the past few months, some Instagram users have started complaining about being "shadowbanned," which made their posts invisible to others.
Many users, particularly photographers and designers, found that Instagram appears to have been blacklisting some of their posts without them knowing.
They only noticed it when the usual likes they would rack up within a few minutes of posting dropped considerably low. This ultimately slowed the increase of their followers and all the more, the engagement of users.
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The Explore tab on Instagram is vital to many influencers who want to expand their reach. However, thanks to the shadowbanning, their blacklisted posts would not show up there, which means that other users will not be able to find them, thus encumbering their reach.
According to IB Times, some of the shadowbanned hashtags are #Skype, #streetphoto, #pushups, #elevator and #singlelife. Using these hashtags on the posts might render them invisible.
Shadowbanning is believed to be Instagram's way to regulate the community usage without resorting to overt censorship. This is why there is a change on how they handle hashtags.
Users who include hashtags that were blacklisted by Instagram will likely be affected by the shadowban. As to how the management determines which is banned or now, it is when they deem it does not meet the community guidelines.
This is when the posts are using bots, have repetitive hashtags or were not safe for work or NSFW. Some shadowbanned users, however, claim that they did not violate the policies of the app.
This is why some folks over at Quora were convinced that shadowbanning was Instagram's way to control Influencer Marketing. The viral post, however, has since been taken down.
Shadowbanning negatively impacted the experience and the growth of users who used Instagram for business. Instagram advised in a Facebook post that to avoid being shadowbanned, users can try this:
"When developing content, we recommend focusing on your business objective or goal rather than hashtags. Having a growth strategy that targets the right audience is essential to success on Instagram."
