How to get out of TikTok shadow ban
TikTok is a platform with an audience of billions, where users from all over the world create short videos on a variety of topics. Most notably, Tik Tok is also a shareware traffic source. With the help of videos, you can promote various offers, including gambling, betting, dating, nutra and merchandise. The process is quite simple: you upload a video, it gets into the recommendations, and if users are interested, click on the link to the offer.
However, sometimes it happens that users do not see your posted videos, which may indicate that the account has been banned. Let's figure out what it is, how to recognize it and get rid of it.
What is a shadow ban?
If your videos have stopped getting into the recommendations feed and the number of views has decreased significantly, there is a high probability that the account has been banned. A shadow ban is a restriction that the platform imposes on the user. As a result, the published videos are not included in the recommendations and are not displayed to new users.
Recommendations are a personalized feed in TikTok, which contains videos that are probably of interest to a particular user. For each person, it is formed individually depending on their interests.
If the author of the video has received a shadow ban, only subscribers and himself can see his videos. Such videos are not distributed and do not receive views, which leads to a decrease in coverage and engagement.
Signs of a shadow ban
A shadow ban is different from blocking or deleting an account. If your account is blocked, the platform will notify you about it. With a shadow ban, everything may be different — you may not even suspect that you have it until you notice a sharp decrease in views or their complete absence. You will not receive notifications or emails about this.
Here are four main signs that you should pay attention to:
1. A sharp reduction in video views or no video at all (0 views).
2. Comments left on your behalf under other people's videos disappear.
3. The number of subscribers does not increase.
4. Videos take a long time to pass moderation.
In order not to miss the negative changes in the views, it is important to regularly check the statistics in TikTok. To do this, you need to connect a business account, as it is the only one that provides access to analytics. You can do this in the settings: go to the "Account" section and select the "Switch to a business account" option.
Go to the analytics section and determine where the views are coming from. If only from subscriptions, then you are in a shadow bath. If most of the views are from the general recommendations feed, then everything is fine and there is no shadow ban.
How long does the shadow ban last?
It is difficult to answer this question unequivocally. The platform does not officially declare either the specifics of the shadow ban, but the timing. As the experience of numerous users shows, the timing depends on the specific case. It happens that a shadow ban lasts for a day, and sometimes for a month. However, we noticed that the classic term of a shadow bank is 14 days.
The reasons for falling into the shadow
TikTok may impose a shadow ban on an account in case of violation of the rules of the platform, which is part of its fight against low-quality or prohibited content. Algorithms automatically detect violations in videos. Here are the main reasons why accounts often fall under the shadow ban:
1. Plagiarism. Although new trends are emerging in TikTok, and users often repeat after each other, outright plagiarism is strictly prohibited. To avoid a shadow ban, try to make your videos as unique as possible, even if they are based on a popular trend.
2. Re-uploading. This means deleting and re-uploading videos that have already been posted. Although such tactics can help to get more views, TikTok does not encourage such actions and restricts users who often re-upload their videos.
3. Prohibited content. Outright violations, such as calls for violence, racism, or drug use, will result in the video being immediately blocked. However, a shadow ban can also be obtained for hints of prohibited content, for example, if a toy weapon or cigarettes are used in the video.
4. Multiple accounts. TikTok allows you to use up to three accounts at the same time. If you have more than three, it may arouse suspicion and lead to a shadow ban.
5. Suspicious activity. The platform reacts warily to users posting 20 videos a day or leaving 1,000 comments each. Such activity may be considered spam, and your videos may disappear from the general feed.
6. Unloading from the gallery. Users have noticed that a shadow ban is often imposed after uploading a video from the gallery. Shooting videos directly through the app and uploading them immediately is generally safer.
7. Adult content. If algorithms consider a video to be explicit, its audience will be significantly reduced, and the videos will be shown only to those who have allowed access to 18+ content. Such content includes erotic scenes and conversations on similar topics.
8. User complaints. If your videos receive a lot of complaints from users, this may cause a shadow ban.
9. Incorrect work with hashtags. An excessive number of hashtags, especially if they do not relate to the topic of the video, causes the platform to be wary. The optimal number of hashtags is about 10, and they should be relevant.
There are other, less common reasons for getting a shadow ban, such as the use of profanity in a video or the presence of children under the age of 13.
How to get rid of a shadow ban
TikTok has never officially confirmed the existence of a shadow ban — this concept arose among users based on their experience. Therefore, there is no specific algorithm that would be guaranteed to help get rid of the shadow ban. However, experienced TikTok users have identified 6 ways that can help solve this problem:
1. Do not be active. If you encounter a shadow ban, try not to log into the TikTok app for 48 hours.
2. Wait for the end of the shadow ban. It usually lasts about 14 days. If you've had a lot of videos with violations, the time limit may be longer. It is recommended to wait at least a week and then upload videos regularly. Keep an eye on their views: if they start getting into the recommendation feed again, it means that the shadow ban has been lifted.
3. Delete the offending videos. If you understand which video caused the shadow ban, you should delete it. This can speed up the recovery of your account. If you are not sure what exactly violates the rules, you can delete all recent videos.
4. Reinstall the TikTok app. Some users report that after reinstalling the application, their videos began to appear in the general feed again. Try this method, especially if you don't have valuable drafts.
5. Stop all methods of promotion. Untie your account from services that generate views and likes.
6. Contact customer support. In the experience of other users, this step rarely leads to success, as technical support takes a long time to respond and does not always provide clear explanations. You can try writing to them to find out which rules were violated, but it's better to take this recommendation as an additional option that should be used after other methods.
Despite the above methods, you will still have to analyze your content and understand what exactly might have aroused suspicion from TikTok algorithms. This information will help you avoid a shadow ban in the future.
If none of the methods worked and your videos are still hidden, create a new account with a different IP address. Upload the same content, but at longer intervals, for example, every other day or once every 3 days.
How to avoid and not get into it
The first thing to do is to re—read the rules of the site and strictly follow them. Exclude even hints of violence, hate speech, 18+ content, guns and other prohibited topics in your videos. TikTok has a large children's audience, so the content requirements are strict and any suspicious videos are blocked.
In addition to following the rules of the site, there are other points that should be taken into account.
Don't abuse hashtags. Add 3-5 hashtags to the video that match the topic. If there are more of them and they do not match the topic of the video, the algorithms may consider it spam.
Do not use the services to cheat. Algorithms will quickly "understand" that such activity cannot come from a living person, and will limit the views of the author's video.
Do not be overly active. Algorithms can calculate that a user is using a bot to cheat.
An important caveat: you can only get a shadow ban on a new account. If the account is working and there are videos on it that have gained at least 100 views, there is no threat of a shadow ban.
Conclusion
It is impossible to protect yourself from a shadow ban 100%, especially if you manage multiple accounts. If you suspect that your account has been banned, it is better not to rush into action. Wait at least a week and try not to be active. If the situation does not improve, you can use the methods mentioned in this article.