shadowbanning
SHAD-oh-ban-ing
Definition
The act of partially or fully blocking or limiting the visibility of a user's content on a social media platform, often without informing the user that their content has been restricted.
Etymology
The word is a compound of 'shadow'—referring to the hidden or unseen nature of the action—and 'banning,' which denotes the act of prohibiting. It emerged in the 2000s within internet forum culture to describe moderation techniques where a user remains able to post, but their content becomes invisible to others.
In the news
The article uses 'shadowbanning' as a key example of opaque platform-based content suppression, noting how such practices can interfere with electoral integrity by silently reducing the reach of specific political messages.
Digital Militant Democracy: Free Elections, Technological Interference and the Limits of Constitutional Self-Defence
Read the full article ↗www.iconnectblog.com