First, what is a shadowban?

A shadowban is a site wide ban across an entire platform in which the user is never notified of their ban. You can keep posting and keep commenting, but no other person will see your posts. Shadowbans on Reddit are the same concept. On Reddit only Admins can shadowban you, not mods. Shadowbans on Reddit are different than a suspension. With a suspension you will be notified and informed of the reasoning.

To check for a shadowban:

How do we know if we are shadowbanned on Reddit? There are a few willy-nilly methods such as posting in r/shadowban and hoping someone replies they can see your post. Or you can skip that and go straight to the platforms ‘checker’ itself. Reddit.com/appeals is the only 100% accurate method of checking for a ban or shadowban.

1. Log into your Reddit account on a desktop browser.
2. Go to Reddit.com/appeals.
3. If the page has a box outlined in red (such as below) you are NOT shadowbanned. If it does not have the red box, you are suspended, banned, or shadowbanned.

What to do if you ARE shadowbanned:

Here is what that page will look like when you have been shadowbanned or suspended.

1. Begin submitting appeals daily. Remember Reddit sees billions of users, and only has around 2000 employees, so you might be looking at a long battle.
2. Appeals should be submitted during standard office hours (earlier the better) for best results. Reddit’s headquarters is based in Pacific Standard Time, though they also have offices on the East coast.
3. Appeals should include at least some of the following talking points:

• You are a human being
• You have read and agree to the Content Policy, User Agreement, and Reddiquette.
• You believe your account was caught in the spam filter
• You only use, or intend to use the platform as designed

Note: You should remain polite, concise and professional in your appeal. Your account is literally in their hands at this time, so kill with kindness.

There is one other location to submit an appeal that has recently been found.

This second location is primarily a catch-all request form, however there is a specific drop down option for account health. That second form can be found here.

After chatting with another mod of  r/creators_spicy_tea and r/FetishBuyersCommunity , we came to the general consensus that if you are shadowbanned, or your account is in some way suspended, best practices would be to submit appeals in both locations.

What behaviors trigger Reddit shadowbans?

Reddit has cracked down incredibly hard on spam in the last few years to the point that regular accounts get caught in the spam filter all the time. Here are some of the actions, behaviors, etc that could get you caught.

• Too many repeated actions at once such as posting, commenting, or upvoting. This is likely going to result in you being rate limited before shadowbanned unless it is a repeat infraction
• When first making your account, give it 24 hours to age before posting or commenting.
• READ SUB RULES. Getting banned from a large number of subs, or being reported by multiple users can trigger a shadow.
• Avoid URL shorteners. Reddit has stated before that they do not approve of them.
• Avoid links Reddit could be, or is known to be auto-blocking. So far we know of:
  • Telegram
  • OnlyFans
  • Manyvids
  • Telegra.ph
  • Any shortened link (Amazon’s a.co, tinyurl.com*, bit.ly, goo gl, etc)*
  • creators.spri.ng
  • Fanberry domains
• Wait 10-15 minutes between posting
• Wait a few minutes between comments
• Avoid the use of a VPN, especially when engaging with the platform
• Do not post the same media more than three times, or if you plan on posting it more, spread them out very far from each other time wise.
• Do not repeatedly use the same caption
• Do not repeatedly comment the same things
  • Direct sellers: This includes your comment menu!
• Don’t constantly repeat the same action multiple times, or perform a mass amount of any combination of actions, in a short period of time (ie, mass upvoting or mass commenting)
• Do not send mass amounts of DMs. Especially if they are unwanted as you are very likely to be mass reported
• Do not use bots.
• Be certain that any scheduler you use uses Reddit’s API

Final Thoughts

Avoiding a shadowban on Reddit can feel like walking through a mine field. Another great resource to check out is Reddit’s run down on spam. I can tell you once your account grows and develops it does seem to become more forgiving. My account at 150+k karma has got away with a lot more than my newer accounts have. Follow these tips here and you should have an easier, safer, and less stressful time promoting on Reddit.