Shadowban

A shadowban is a silent restriction where a user can continue posting and commenting on Reddit, but their content is invisible to everyone else. The banned user sees their own posts and comments normally when logged in, which is what makes the shadowban insidious — they have no notification, no warning, and no obvious feedback that anything is wrong.

Reddit applies sitewide shadowbans algorithmically to accounts that exhibit spam-like patterns: rapid posting across many subreddits, low karma combined with link-heavy submissions, suspected vote manipulation, or signals from anti-spam systems. Individual subreddits can also "sub-ban" accounts using AutoModerator, which is functionally similar from the user's perspective.

The simplest way to test for a shadowban is to log out (or open an incognito window) and look for one of your recent comments by going directly to its permalink. If you see "[removed]" or the comment doesn't appear at all to logged-out viewers, you're likely shadowbanned. Third-party tools like reddit.com/r/ShadowBan also let you submit your username and get a verdict.

For marketers, shadowbans are a leading cause of "why are no replies converting?" puzzles. You think you're posting thoughtful answers across ten subreddits a week; in reality, no one is seeing them. The fastest way to get shadowbanned is to behave like a bot: brand-new account, immediate posting, identical or near-identical comments across subs, frequent links to the same domain.

Lifting a shadowban requires messaging r/reddit.com admins via the contact form and waiting (often days or weeks) for a manual review. The better strategy is to avoid behaviors that trigger one in the first place: warm up new accounts with genuine participation, vary your replies, avoid link-spamming, and keep your domain mentions proportional to the value you add.