TikTok shadowban: what it is and what to check

What is a TikTok shadowban?

A shadowban is a penalty you are not told about: your videos still post, but far fewer people see them. On TikTok, the word usually describes views that fall to almost nothing with no warning.

A TikTok employee has denied that it happens. In 2022, Adam Burchill, then head of music at TikTok Canada, told a Canadian Music Week panel: "There's no such thing as shadow banning."

What TikTok does do is limit reach in ways it names, and it shows you where. When people say shadowban, they almost always mean one of three things:

• A post that is not eligible for the For You feed. It stays up and can still be found on your profile. TikTok will not recommend it in the For You feed.
• An account that is not eligible for recommendation. Since 2024, an account that keeps posting ineligible content can be left out of recommendations as a whole, for a time. It can also be harder to find in search.
• A restricted feature. Features such as posting, commenting or sending messages can be restricted after a violation.

How to check if you're shadowbanned on TikTok

Start with TikTok's own tool. Account check reviews your account and your recent posts. It marks each item with a check mark, or with a warning sign where there is an issue. It sits in two places in the app:

• From TikTok Studio: tap Profile, tap the menu button at the top, choose TikTok Studio, and under More tools tap Account check.
• From the Safety Center: tap Profile, the menu button, Settings and privacy, Support, Safety Center, then Account check.

It covers the account's main features, such as posting, commenting and sending messages. It also shows whether your recent posts can appear in the For You feed.

If every line has a check mark, Account check found no restriction. That is useful news: the next place to look is the videos.

Why am I shadowbanned on TikTok?

TikTok's Community Guidelines list what gets removed. They also set For You feed standards: content that stays up but is not recommended. Examples include:

• dangerous activities and challenges
• sexually suggestive content
• unoriginal and low-quality content
• content that tricks or manipulates people to inflate followers, likes, views or other engagement

Two other causes sit outside a single video. Content from account holders under 16 is not eligible for the For You feed at all. And an account that keeps posting ineligible content can lose recommendation as a whole.

What to do if your TikTok videos are not eligible for the For You feed

Work through it in order. Each step either deals with the cause or tells you there was none.

1. Read the reason. Where TikTok has flagged a post, it shows which rule applies.
2. Appeal if you think it is wrong. TikTok lets you send feedback on the decision and appeal it.
3. Learn the rule before you post again. More posts like the flagged one can turn a limit on one post into a limit on the whole account.
4. Keep posting your own original work. Strikes expire after 90 days, and an account-wide limit is described as temporary.
5. Do not open a new account to get around it. The guidelines forbid using another account to get around a restriction, including a For You feed restriction. TikTok may also ban new accounts you create.
6. Do not buy engagement to fill the gap. It breaks TikTok's rules on fake engagement.

How long does a TikTok shadowban last?

There is no single answer, because there is no single penalty. TikTok's pages give no time limit we could find for a post that is ineligible for the For You feed. An appeal is the way to have it looked at again.

Strikes are clearer. TikTok says they expire after 90 days, and after that they no longer count toward a permanent ban. The first violation usually brings a warning rather than a strike, unless it is severe. Some severe violations end an account at once.

An account-wide limit is temporary, by TikTok's own description.

When a drop in views is not a shadowban

A clear Account check points back to the videos. Burchill said it plainly at the same 2022 panel: "Some videos go and some videos don't."

Then look at the videos themselves: the first few seconds, the topic, how often you post, and whether a trend has passed. Compare the post with your best recent ones and change one thing at a time.

Our guides on how to get more views on TikTok and how to go viral on TikTok cover what TikTok says its recommendations reward.

Shadowbans when you run many TikTok accounts

With several accounts, run Account check on each one and read each account's drop on its own. Each account is held to the same guidelines. Our post on whether you can have multiple TikTok accounts covers those rules.

Tiktok Farm builds phone farms for running many accounts: real iPhones, each running the official TikTok app, one account per phone. They post your own videos on a schedule. The Farm Software puts every phone on one screen, with analytics and alerts. That makes a drop on one account easier to spot and check.

It buys no views, likes or followers, and it does not fake engagement. TikTok can still limit or remove any account, and the same guidelines apply to every one.