There's a new fear settling in with creators right now, and I've been noticing it quite a lot on the ol' FYP.

Some say it with fear, others with conviction, and a very specific group (I believe) say it like a strategic wink: "Interact with this bc I think I'm shadow banned ☹"

I can kind of understand why. The algorithm feels like a moody god at the moment, and creators are its worshippers, trying desperately to interpret the signs.

But I want to start with the obvious question.

Yes. And also... not really. It exists as a moderation concept, but not in the overt "you've been quietly punished mwahahaha" way creators tend to imagine.

It's more like a messy cluster of automated filters, risk flags, and temporary de-prioritisations triggered by the vaguest possible list of behaviours. Post something sexual? Maybe flagged. Political? Maybe flagged. Too many link dumps? Maybe flagged. Look spammy for even a second? Good luck out there, bud.

The real issue is that platforms rarely confirm anything. They never actually say "you're suppressed for 72 hours because you made a "sexy' caption." They just let the silence speak.

And in that silence, creators spiral (valid, I've spiralled for much less.)

Because most of the time, what creators think is a shadow ban is actually just... the algorithm doing normal algorithm things.

You have to remember: the algorithm has no loyalty, no consistency, and no emotional intelligence. It's not punishing you. It's just busy. Or bored. Or reorganising itself entirely. One day your video gets 2 million views, the next day it gets 200. And suddenly you're pacing your living room whispering, "why have the gods forsaken me!" like an Ancient Greek poet.

This is where algorithm anxiety sets in. It's not the shadow ban. It's the uncertainty.

Creators cannot distinguish normal fluctuations from actual suppression, because everything online now feels like a high-stakes performance review. Every dip feels personal. Every spike feels fleeting.

And political or sexual creators feel this even more intensely, because their content already lives closer to the platform's imaginary electric fence. They're constantly waiting for the hammer to drop. Sometimes it does, but mostly they're reacting to a system that's simply as unstable as your self-medicated aunt.

Instability breeds superstition. So we've found ourselves here, in the era of digital superstition.

Creators are timing uploads based on lunar cycles (or vibes), cleansing their drafts, manifesting reach, asking followers to comment "to prove I'm not dead." It's half pagan ritual, half marketing strategy. And lowkey kind of funny to witness (I'm sorry.)

But here's something I suspect no one admits: for some creators, "I'm shadow banned" is also... convenient. It's a socially acceptable way to ask for engagement, boost comments, or explain a flop. It protects the ego, drives sympathy and reframes poor performance as an otherworldly injustice rather than "people just didn't care for this one."

Shadow ban discourse has become engagement bait with emotional frosting.

Of course, the platforms love the ambiguity. If creators don't know why something tanked, they will post more to "fix" it. If they don't know why something went viral, they will chase it endlessly. Mystery is the growth engine, and clarity would just slow everything down.

So yes, the shadow ban exists. But the bigger, more interesting phenomenon is the collective panic around it.

Algorithm anxiety is the new creator burnout. It makes everyone hypervigilant, constantly apologising to their followers, obsessively checking analytics, refreshing notifications like a slot machine lever. It pushes creators into content they don't even like making anymore because they're terrified the algorithm will abandon them if they take one wrong step.

Shadow banning isn't killing creativity, but fear of shadow banning certainly is.

The real issue is that creators are trying to build stable careers on unstable platforms. They're trying to find logic in a system that isn't designed to be understood. And because platforms thrive on confusion, the cycle continues.

Maybe the real takeaway is simple. You're probably not shadow banned. You're just at the mercy of an unpredictable algorithm that was never designed to love you back.

-Sophie Randell, Writer