If your views suddenly dropped and videos stopped appearing in recommendations – it looks like a shadowban. Don’t panic. In practice, the restriction most often lasts 5-14 days and is lifted if you remove the cause and manage your account carefully. Below are short steps on where to click, what to check, and what not to do.
In short: what a shadowban is and how long it lasts
A shadowban is when your videos are hardly shown to new viewers, but there’s no direct notification. You see a drop in impressions, likes, and saves, especially from the Recommendations section. It most often lasts 7-14 days. It can be 24-72 hours for minor violations, rarely up to a month if the cause isn’t resolved.
| Scenario | Typical Duration | Best Action |
|---|---|---|
| One-time content rule violation | 3-7 days | Delete problematic videos, re-upload a clean version, reduce activity for 72 hours |
| Mass actions and spam-like behavior | 7-14 days | Stop subscribing and commenting in batches, tidy up the profile, post on schedule |
| Technical issues: frequent IP/device changes, third-party software | 3-14 days | Fix the device, network, and location, clear cache, log in again |
| Systematic violations | 2-4 weeks | Appeal, content audit, pause posting for 3-5 days, then soft re-entry |
Signs of a shadowban: how to check in 10 minutes
Our goal is to quickly understand if there’s a restriction and not make it worse. We check five key points and take screenshots for the future.
To avoid guessing blindly, it’s important to clearly check the main signals of a restriction. How to find out if I have a shadowban on TikTok is an analysis of traffic sources, the behavior of new videos in the first hours, and visibility in hashtags and search, not just one isolated sign.
- Open Profile Analytics – Traffic Sources – Recommendations. If it was 60-90 percent and dropped to 0-10 percent – that’s an alarming signal.
- Make a test video without controversial elements: talking head, simple lighting, no music with questionable rights. Watch the first 2-3 hours – are there impressions from non-followers?
- Check hashtags and search. Your videos are almost not found via hashtags – a typical picture under restriction.
- Look for violation notifications in the Safety Center. Even an old warning can trigger a temporary downgrade.
- From another device and network, search for your video by its exact title. If it’s not found in recommendations – add a plus to the hypothesis.
| Signal | Where to Look | Normal | Bad Sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share from Recommendations | Analytics – Sources | 40-90 percent | 0-15 percent for several days in a row |
| Impressions via hashtags | Video analytics | Steady traffic | Almost zero, even though the topic is the same |
| Impressions pace for a new video | First 2-3 hours | Gradual growth | Stagnant, only your own viewers |
| Violation notifications | Safety Center | No active ones | There is an active one or a series of removals |
Typical causes and how to resolve them
The same mistake is often made here – treating symptoms but not removing the trigger. Go down the list and check off items one by one.
| Cause | How to Fix Quickly | What to Check |
|---|---|---|
| Content rule violations | Delete or contest videos, re-upload without prohibited elements | Speech, on-screen text, dangerous actions, personal data, others’ content |
| Mass actions | Pause 48-72 hours, return to natural activity | Subscribing and commenting in series, identical phrases |
| Music and rights | Replace tracks with TikTok library, remove questionable samples | Commercial use, regional restrictions |
| Technical instability | Fix device, network, location, clear cache, reinstall the app | VPN, frequent IP changes, logins from many devices |
| Gray-area software and auto-posting | Disable, return to native posting from the app | Parsers, auto-comment, mass outreach |
3-day exit step-by-step plan
In practice, the most common approach is – first stabilize the account, then carefully return to publishing. No sudden moves.
- Day 0: delete or contest violating videos, hide questionable drafts, clear cache, log out and back into the account, fix network and device.
- Day 1: pause on subscriptions and mass commenting, one short neutral video 10-20 seconds, without ‘junk’ hashtags, only precise, topic-relevant ones.
- Day 2: if the video has impressions from Recommendations – release a second video. If not – another day of pause and checking causes from the table above.
- Day 3-4: return to the usual pace of 1-2 videos per day. In parallel – appeal to support if you disagree with a violation.
| Step | Where to Tap/Click | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Clear cache | Profile – Settings – Free up space – Clear cache | Helps reset local glitches and update the session |
| Reinstall app | Delete app – Reinstall fresh | Useful for prolonged restrictions and frequent errors |
| Appeal | Notification – Appeal – Briefly describe what you fixed | No emotions, to the point, attach a screenshot of the corrected version |
| Test post | Create – Sound from library – Publish | Neutral topic, no controversial language or footage |
Settings and publishing: what to change and what’s better left alone
When you need something fast – make minimal safe edits. Excessive profile edits during a restriction can prolong the problem.
- Change: avatar to a neutral one, description without spam, pinned videos – remove controversial ones.
- Do not touch: username and @handle, date of birth, linked phone numbers and email – this triggers additional checks.
- Post 1-2 videos a day, at the same time, without ‘bursts’. Breaks of 24 hours are fine.
- Music – only from the TikTok library. If in doubt – publish without music and add sound within the app.
Special Cases
New Account
Don’t try to ‘boost’ the profile with mass activity in the first days. Better 5-7 days of soft introduction: 1 post a day, live replies to comments, without sharp spikes.
Commercial Account
Be careful with product comparisons, reviews, and other brands. If a brand is mentioned – confirm the right to use it. Music – only the commercial library within the app.
Russia: Publishing via VPN and Proxy
It’s important to check one thing that’s often forgotten – location stability. Fix one region, one IP pool, one device. Sudden geo-switches and logins from different networks in a row often coincide with restrictions.
Checklist before a new publication
- The video does not contain prohibited content – blood, dangerous actions, personal data, insults.
- Music from the TikTok library – or no music, you can add it after publishing.
- Captions and on-screen text without trigger words, no clickbait.
- Cover is readable, no others’ logos or watermarks.
- Hashtags are topic-relevant, 2-5 pieces, without a ‘mishmash’ of unrelated words.
| Element | Parameters | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Video length | 10-30 seconds | Quick initial impression gain, less reason for removal |
| Text | Up to 80-120 characters | Sufficient for context, without extra triggers |
| Hashtags | 2-5 relevant | Clean topic signal, no spam |
| Music | TikTok library | Removes copyright risk |
What not to do during the restriction
- Do not delete dozens of videos in batches at once – take breaks of 10-15 minutes between actions.
- Do not change your name, date of birth, phone number, and email all in one day.
- Do not post 5-10 videos in a row – better 1-2, but consistently.
- Do not get into arguments in comments and do not write identical phrases to hundreds of people.
- Do not use third-party view boosting and ‘return to recommendations’ services – usually makes it worse.
If it didn’t help: when to contact support and what to attach
If after 10-14 days there are almost no impressions from Recommendations – it’s time to write to support. Briefly and to the point.
- Open Profile – Settings – Report a Problem – Posts and Videos – Reduced visibility.
- Describe what you fixed and when. Attach screenshots of analytics ‘before’ and ‘after’, links to controversial videos.
- If there’s a rejected appeal – send again with a new description and proof of corrections.
Short Summary
A shadowban is a temporary restriction that most often goes away after removing the cause and stabilizing account behavior. A simple approach works: remove triggers, pause for 48-72 hours, return to publishing with clean content and careful settings.
If you need something fast – start by checking traffic sources, delete controversial videos, make one test post and observe the first few hours. If there’s no movement in 10-14 days – go to support with facts, not emotions.
What’s your current task – to restore impressions on your current account or safely launch a new profile from scratch?
