Shadow Ban 101

Alright! Here we go! Shadow bans—they suck fucking ass. I’ve been shadowbanned before, and many of you are interested in how to get rid of it. I’m going to give you some tips that helped me. Please be aware, THIS MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU; so, please take this as advice and not factual evidence. I want to help you all as best as I can beat this. I know how much it sucks!

STOP POSTING

I know you don’t want to hear it, but you have to stop posting for at least two weeks. Why? Because when Instagram puts a ban on you, the absence of activity tells its AI that you have “reset” so-to-speak. The less you post, the faster your account will reset. This also applies to stories as well. Granted, I was not perfect when it came to this, and I was posting some stories because, well, sometimes this shit is an addiction.

If you do stop posting, you’ll find your shadow ban will lift faster than you think. Besides, use the time build ideas, brainstorm, or maybe go on a vacation!

Archive Photos

What does this mean? For dark artists, any work we publish is a risk. When I was shadow banned, I had to go through my gallery and archive any post that MAY have tipped off the algorithm as “offensive.”

It’s not the end of the world if you have to archive—trust me. This will also tell the algorithm that you’ve “learned your lesson” and abided by the community standards. Once your shadow ban is over, un-archive all your posts and resume as you would.

Get Rid of Offensive Hashtags

I cannot stress this enough, y’all: STOP USING GENERIC HASHTAGS! Seriously! It will get you shadow banned quicker than you can blink. Mix your hashtags up every post. You can still use relevant hashtags, but don’t always use the same order of things.

Oddly enough, the AI does know this and will flag any account that is doing “bot-like” activity. This also applies to commenting, DMs, etc. Instagram doesn’t want bots (though, they suck at it) and will definitely shadowban you.

In my instance, I’ve had to refrain from using “horror,” “blood,” “death,” because they associate these tags with self-harm. There are various websites that will give you a list of potential red flags, so, don’t be afraid to do some research on this—it’ll help!

Collaborator Post WON’T Work

Seriously, don’t try it. Since I have two pages I run, I tried to use foliumdiscognitum2 and cdcworks to piggy off each other. It didn’t work.

While it was posted, the hashtags DID NOT show on cdcworks. This means that if you’re using another account or a promo page and think your hashtags will show—it won’t. It just carries over.

I guess the algorithm knows that hackers are pretty clever, and I can confirm it doesn’t work. So, abide by no posting rule and don’t even waste your time.

Use Promo Pages to Help Engagement

Just because hashtags don’t show, does not mean that using these pages won’t help boost your reach and engagement.

Nobody wants to spend money just to be seen, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Promo pages are definitely a good source of getting your work out there in the meantime.

Encourage Followers to Save and Share Posts

Jesus, I think all of us have beat this into the ground—but it’s very true.

Saving, sharing, and commenting on your posts DOES show AI that your post is “favorable.” I cannot stress this enough, but we have to start exercising this each time out favorite artists posts—and I think your followers should do this for YOU.

Start Building Other Platforms

I know you all don’t want to hear this…but you have to start building on other platforms. Look, I fucking HATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TikTok. However, I had to bite the bullet for the third time and start using it.

Why? Because all this platforms you can use to piggy back on each other and help put your work out there! It’s a shitty ass thing that we have to do this, but until Elon Musk decides to buy Facebook and Instagram—we are fucked.

If you’re shadowbanned, this is a good time to start brainstorming on building other platforms as well. Don’t be shy to start getting out there and trying to build. It’s a slow start, but it grows.

You Can’t Control People

And this, my family, is where we all seem to have the biggest problems. People suck, and they’ll report your posts for seemingly no reason at all.

However, I have found that if you’re careful with what you post—even then reporting won’t affect you. Instagram’s AI is the bigger perpetrator of the two, and it’s odd to say that, but it’s facts. I’ve found that more of my posts have been removed by the AI than Karens. Weird, right?

Regardless, you need to exercise caution when posting anything you think might alert the algorithm. Getting a post removed can incur a shadowban. Not all the time, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, so think about what you post. I hate telling you all that because we unfortunately live in a pussy society, but I care. Just be careful and think about it before hitting “post.”