https://barryhisblog.blogspot.com/2025/12/shadow-banning.html
From Wikipedia
Shadow banning
Shadow banning, also known as stealth banning, hell banning, ghost banning, and comment ghosting, is the practice of blocking or partially blocking a user or the user's content from some areas of an online community in such a way that the ban is not readily apparent to the user, regardless of whether the action is taken by an individual or an algorithm. For example, shadow-banned comments posted to a blog or media website would be visible to the sender, but not to other users accessing the site.
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Legality
Although shadow banning can be an effective moderation tool, it can also have legal implications. If the platform implementing shadow banning does not mention such practice in their terms and conditions, it could effectively mean that the platform denied a service for no disclosed reason, and hence being in breach of contract.
In the European Union, the Digital Services Act (DSA) contains Article 17[27] that directly addresses moderation practices and service restrictions, forcing platforms to disclose the reasons for such restrictions:
Providers of hosting services shall provide a clear and specific statement of reasons to any affected recipients of the service for any of the following restrictions imposed on the ground that the information provided by the recipient of the service is illegal content or incompatible with their terms and conditions.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banning
In my opinion, the only justification for shadow banning would be in the cases where someone is a persistent spammer, or a poster of abuse, or of phishing, grooming or attempts to scam, or encourage others to engage in illegal activities.
Otherwise, shadow banning someone in a supposedly or apparently open medium where comments, discussions and expressions of varied opinions should be expected is a particularly egregious form of abuse. Imagine a discussion in which someone invests a considerable amount of time and effort to produce a thoughtful, well researched piece. They post it to a discussion group, or as a comment on a YooToob, for example. To that person, it appears for all the world that their contribution is visible to everyone on the site. But it is not. They have been shadow banned, and they do not know that their contribution is invisible to anyone else.
This is just about the most miserable, cowardly and abusive way to treat someone who is not themselves abusing the system, and at the very least, digital platforms should implement European DSA Article 17 when serving EU citizens as a minimum requirement.
...
Legality
Although shadow banning can be an effective moderation tool, it can also have legal implications. If the platform implementing shadow banning does not mention such practice in their terms and conditions, it could effectively mean that the platform denied a service for no disclosed reason, and hence being in breach of contract.
In the European Union, the Digital Services Act (DSA) contains Article 17[27] that directly addresses moderation practices and service restrictions, forcing platforms to disclose the reasons for such restrictions:
Providers of hosting services shall provide a clear and specific statement of reasons to any affected recipients of the service for any of the following restrictions imposed on the ground that the information provided by the recipient of the service is illegal content or incompatible with their terms and conditions.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banning
In my opinion, the only justification for shadow banning would be in the cases where someone is a persistent spammer, or a poster of abuse, or of phishing, grooming or attempts to scam, or encourage others to engage in illegal activities.
Otherwise, shadow banning someone in a supposedly or apparently open medium where comments, discussions and expressions of varied opinions should be expected is a particularly egregious form of abuse. Imagine a discussion in which someone invests a considerable amount of time and effort to produce a thoughtful, well researched piece. They post it to a discussion group, or as a comment on a YooToob, for example. To that person, it appears for all the world that their contribution is visible to everyone on the site. But it is not. They have been shadow banned, and they do not know that their contribution is invisible to anyone else.
This is just about the most miserable, cowardly and abusive way to treat someone who is not themselves abusing the system, and at the very least, digital platforms should implement European DSA Article 17 when serving EU citizens as a minimum requirement.
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