CYBERSPACE — With the revelation that Twitter shadowbans certain users, Lauren MacEwen, CEO and founder of social media company 7Veils.com, has some practical advice — check out Twitter’s updated search settings.
“Are you suddenly unable to find yourself in Twitter search? Do you think you have been shadowbanned?” MacEwen asked. “This term has been floating around a lot. For 99 percent of the people, you have not been shadowbanned; you are simply the next victim of the updated Twitter search settings.
So what is a shadowban? The subject is coming up quite often in media circles after a group of individuals from Project Veritas recorded scores of video testimonies from current and former Twitter employees alleging its existence in the organization.
MacEwen told XBIZ: "A shadowban is when your account is hidden from keyword, hashtag and account search.”
“This means that they only way people can see your tweets is if they go to your Twitter profile page. This is like a soft suspension,” MacEwen said. “Typically a shadowban lasts 48-72 hours. You will not be notified when this happens.
“Officially, Twitter denies that they do this. But there is evidence to the contrary."
MacEwen said that there are websites out there that will check if you are shadowbanned — but they simply don’t work.
“After some of the updated API and algorithm changes, these services will tell almost anybody they are shadowbanned. I did a search for @CNN and they came up as shadowbanned. I did a search for @7_Veils, and we came up as shadowbanned,” she said.
“Neither account is shadowbanned. Some checkers are making notes that accounts may not be shadowbanned, as they are becoming aware of the inaccuracies.”
She said that Twitter users should unclick “hide sensitive content” in the “privacy and safety” field in “settings” so that followers can view all content.
In addition to operating 7Veils.com, MacEwen is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and writes regularly for XBIZ.
