Shadow ban vs low reach
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They look the same from the inside and they are not the same thing. A shadow ban is a platform restricting distribution without telling you; low reach is the algorithm simply not pushing a video. No platform confirms a shadow ban, so no tool — including this one — can detect one with certainty; anything claiming otherwise is inferring from reach patterns. What can be measured is whether your own behaviour looks automated, which is the part you control.
Shadow ban
- A platform-side restriction, never announced.
- Usually follows a policy trigger: a flagged hashtag, a moderation strike, behaviour read as automated.
- Affects the account rather than one video.
- Cannot be confirmed externally, by anyone.
Low reach
- The algorithm did not push this particular video.
- Ordinary and extremely common — most videos have low reach.
- Varies video by video on the same account.
- Usually a hook, a retention or a timing problem.
The test that actually separates them
Is it every video, or this video? A shadow ban does not pick favourites. If one post underperformed and the next did fine, the algorithm made a judgement about a video — that is not a restriction, that is the normal state of affairs.
A sustained collapse across everything you publish, starting at a specific moment, is the pattern worth investigating. A single flop is not a pattern.
The ordinary causes that look exactly like a ban
Posting more than about 3 times a day on one TikTok account: you compete with yourself, and the algorithm divides the same audience between your own videos instead of adding reach.
More than about five hashtags: dilution rather than breadth.
Identical captions across several accounts, which is one of the signals used to link accounts to one another.
Intervals that are too regular. Being consistent is good; publishing at exactly 14:00:00 daily is a machine signature.
What a tool can honestly tell you
Not whether you are banned. It can score whether your own publishing habits look human and non-self-competing — timing, caption variety, hashtag load, interval variance, reach anomalies — and tell you which of them you are failing.
That distinction is the whole point: the causes you can fix are the ones inside your own behaviour, and they are also the ones most often mistaken for a ban.
Frequently asked
- How do I know if I am shadow banned on TikTok?
- You cannot know for certain — no platform confirms it. The useful signal is whether the drop hits every video from a specific moment, or just this one. A single underperforming post is normal.
- Can a tool detect a shadow ban?
- Not with certainty. Any tool claiming detection is inferring from reach patterns. What can be measured is whether your own behaviour matches the patterns that trigger restrictions.
- Does posting too often cause low reach?
- Yes. Above roughly 3 posts a day on one TikTok account you compete with yourself — the algorithm splits the same audience across your own videos rather than finding new people.
- How long does a shadow ban last?
- There is no published duration, because there is no published mechanism. Reports vary widely, which is what you would expect from something nobody can confirm is happening.
Sources
- Koda’s account health scoring — src/lib/protection/health-score.ts — the thresholds quoted here are the ones the product scores against.