Getting shadowbanned on TikTok can be a serious blow to your content creation effort, bringing user engagement to a halt. Most creators who don’t familiarize themselves with TikTok’s guidelines and regulations don’t even know they’ve been slammed with a TikTok shadow ban.
TikTok is a strictly regulated platform with an AI-powered network of algorithms detecting content violations, such as spamming, hate speech, harassment, and explicit language. Users who violate community guidelines are shadowbanned on TikTok, resulting in restricted visibility and reduced traffic.
This article will help you understand how to get unshadowbanned on TikTok and avoid restrictions in the future.
How do you Know if you’re Shadowbanned on TikTok?
When a user is shadowbanned, TikTok restricts the visibility of their account and posts, limiting their interactions with their followers. Under a TikTok shadow ban, your posts won’t appear on the For You page or hashtag searches.
Here are some other signs of being shadowbanned on TikTok:
- Your posts are difficult to find.
- Your posts aren’t getting enough views.
- Comments and likes have reduced drastically
- Certain posts or comments have disappeared entirely.
- Posts remain under review for hours.
If you’ve violated community guidelines, it’s pertinent to review your content and change your creative strategy to avoid a permanent ban. Consider the shadowban a warning from TikTok to pay heed to its guidelines or risk being slammed with permanent restrictions.
How Long does a TikTok Shadow Ban Last?
It usually takes around 2 weeks to restore visibility for your account after being shadowbanned on TikTok. The exact duration varies, depending on the issue that triggered the restrictions. For instance, if you were shadowbanned due to a technical error, the support team will likely resolve the issue much sooner.
But if you’ve committed repetitive violations, the resolution will take time and you must wait patiently. We advise creators to avoid posting or commenting during this period and use this break to familiarize themselves with TikTok’s community guidelines.
What Causes the TikTok Shadowban?
Why did I get shadowbanned on TikTok? Here’s a common question we address every day for creators struggling to identify community violations they routinely commit while posting seemingly perfect content. TikTok’s community guidelines are extensive and strict, and you cannot escape being shadowbanned on TikTok without familiarizing yourself with violations.
Here are four common reasons behind a TikTok shadow ban:
1. Harassment or Hate Speech
TikTok does not tolerate bullying, hate speech or any insensitive behavior that threatens to disrupt the positive and inclusive appeal of its social community. If you’re repeatedly being shadowbanned on TikTok, we suggest reviewing your account activity, including posts and comments to identify keywords or themes that involve hate speech.
2. Copyright Infringement
While TikTok encourages creators to add music clips and get creative with various formats, it addresses copyright violations with a shadowban among other restrictions. If you’re dealing with permanent restrictions, our detailed TikTok unban guide will help you restore your account.
3. Explicit Content
TikTok protects its Gen Z user audience with a strict policy to eliminate sexually explicit content and nudity. Uploading a sexually explicit clip can lead to a shadowban while repeating this violation will lead to severe consequences.
4. Technical Errors
Advertisers routinely struggle with being shadowbanned on TikTok despite committing no violations whatsoever. The platform is prone to technical errors that lead to a TikTok shadow ban, creating an extremely frustrating situation for creators who religiously follow guidelines.
At GCG Media, we encourage advertisers and influencers to bypass restrictions and unlock their creative potential with our TikTok Agency Ad Account – a specialized account to elevate your lead generation efforts!
How to Get Unshadowbanned on TikTok?
Once you’ve identified the reasons, you can work towards understanding how to get unshadowbanned on TikTok and bypassing future restrictions.
These simple fixes will help restore access after being shadowbanned on TikTok:
1) Remove All Flagged Content
If you’ve been shadowbanned on TikTok, it’s likely that you’ve intentionally or unintentionally violated the community guidelines. It’s time to review all your recent posts and comments and remove all flagged content that violates TikTok’s content policies.
Here’s what you need to eliminate:
- Keywords that indicate bullying, harassment or hate speech.
- Mentions of self-harm or violence.
- Promoting illegal activities like drugs.
- Nudity
- Misinformation
If you can’t seem to restore access despite making several changes to your posts, you need to take advantage of TikTok Analytics.
You need to:
- Open your TikTok profile.
- Select the Menu and click on Creator Tools.
- Scroll over to Analytics and look at all the posts that have been restricted.
- Now, remove all flagged content to restore your account.
Even after removing all flagged content, it can take up to 14 days for the TikTok shadow ban to be lifted.
2) Reinstall the App
If you’re shadowbanned on TikTok for longer than two weeks, it’s likely you’re dealing with a technical error stemming from outdated apps or cache data. In order to fix a TikTok shadow ban that doesn’t end despite removing content violations, you need to uninstall and reinstall TikTok.
3) Don’t Engage in Spammy Behavior
TikTok’s AI-powered flagging system is wired to eliminate all signs of spamming or bot-like activities, such as excessive comments and repetitive violations. Humanizing your account with posts and comments that reflect a thoughtful, meaningful exchange will help you avoid a TikTok shadow ban and other restrictions.
Avoid these behaviors:
- Excessive commenting or commenting the same text multiple times in a short period.
- Randomly liking and following numerous accounts/posts in a short period.
- Buying fake likes, follows and comments.
- Overusing the same hashtags repeatedly.
At GCG Media, we always urge our clients to devise a comprehensive strategy to streamline their TikTok content creation efforts. Strategizing will help map out scheduling, themes and content to avoid repetition and curate original content that aligns with audience preferences and community guidelines.
4) Submit a Support Request
If you’re struggling to restore access after being shadowbanned on TikTok for a prolonged period, we suggest contacting the TikTok support team.
Here’s how you can submit a support ticket:
- Open your TikTok profile and select the menu from the top-right corner of your screen.
- Select the Support section and open Report a Problem.
- Select the writing icon to generate your support ticket.
- In the feedback section, provide a comprehensive account of the errors or violations that led to a TikTok shadow ban and request the team to review your account. It’s wise to provide evidence like screenshots to substantiate that you’ve removed flagged content or didn’t commit any violations.
5) Eliminate Banned Keywords & Nudity
Does your profile picture contain any signs of nudity or sexually explicit imagery? Do the username or description contain banned keywords or offensive language? If you’re wondering how to get unshadowbanned on TikTok despite multiple support tickets and extensive content review, it’s time to scrutinize your profile thoroughly.
Adding banned keywords or explicit content to your profile is a common reason behind a TikTok shadow ban and removing these can help restore access.
Final Thoughts
Once you figure out how to get unshadowbanned on TikTok, it’s time to map out a new content strategy that is fully aligned with the platform’s community guidelines. At GCG Media, we’ve dealt with multiple cases where users have been shadowbanned on TikTok without committing any violations. Nothing could be more frustrating than losing access after pouring incessant efforts into building a vibrant audience for your TikTok account.
We strive to help advertisers and creators avoid such staggering disappointment with our TikTok Agency Ad Account – the ultimate solution to bypass restrictions and unleash creativity. Get in touch with our team today to discover how our dedicated account can boost visibility and engagement for your ad campaigns!