What is shadow banning?
Shadow banning isn't a new concept; it's frequently used in forums and on other social networks as an alternative to banning someone outright.
Instead of kicking someone off, shadow bans make a person's post visible only to the user who created it. The idea is to protect others from harmful content while eventually prompting the shadow-banned user to voluntarily leave the forum due to a lack of engagement.
If you outright ban a user, the thinking goes, the person is aware of it and will likely just set up another account and continue the offending behavior.
Shadow banning was Reddit's only form of banning for years and was used by the site until November 2015.
The practice is similar to what Facebook does with misinformation. The social network told reporters on July 11 that instead of completely banning pages behind hoaxes and misinformation, it would rather demote their posts so fewer people see them.
Shadow banning is typically used to stop bots and trolls, said Zack Allen, director of threat operations at ZeroFox, a company that focuses on social media security.
"This can be effective in combating bots where 'bot herders' who maintain these accounts don't necessarily know whether or not their bots are actually being seen by other people," he said.