TikTok Shadowban & Reach Glossary
The terms creators, marketers and TikTok itself use for limited reach — defined plainly, and honestly separated into what TikTok documents and what creators infer.
Updated September 13, 2026
Shadowban (creator term)
A folk word for having your reach quietly reduced without notice. TikTok has never officially used the word “shadowban” or defined a secret, blanket ban. When creators say “shadowban,” they are almost always describing For You feed ineligibility — a documented reach limit, not a hidden account ban.
Reach limitation
When fewer people see your videos than your history would predict. On TikTok the documented form is reduced recommendation in the For You feed: your content stays up and followers may still see it, but it stops reaching new viewers.
For You feed (FYF)
TikTok’s main recommendation surface — the personalised feed of videos from accounts you don’t necessarily follow. It is where most discovery (and most reach) happens, which is why losing FYF recommendation feels like a “ban.”
For You feed eligibility
TikTok’s official, documented system that decides whether a video can be recommended in the For You feed. Content that meets the standards is eligible; content that doesn’t is “FYF Ineligible.”
FYF ineligibility
When content falls under TikTok’s “FYF Ineligible” standards it, in TikTok’s words, “won’t be recommended in the FYF.” It stays on your profile and is still findable through search or your followers — recommendation is narrowed, the video isn’t removed. This is the real mechanism behind what creators call a shadowban.
Reach cliff
A sudden, sharp drop in views on recent videos versus your own baseline — a step-change rather than a gentle slowdown. A cliff across several posts is a stronger signal than one quiet video, which can simply be normal variance.
Engagement-rate inversion
When engagement (likes, comments, shares per view) holds steady or rises while total reach collapses. It suggests the people who do see your content still like it, but the For You feed has stopped surfacing it to new viewers — pointing to a distribution problem rather than weak content.
Baseline
Your own normal performance range, computed from your recent history. Reach only means something in context: a drop counts when it’s a drop for you. Shadowban Checker uses a robust baseline (median-based) so one outlier post doesn’t skew the read.
Community Guidelines strike
A violation record TikTok applies when it removes content that breaks a Community Guideline. Per TikTok, “Strikes will expire from an account’s record after 90 days,” and crossing a strike threshold in a feature or policy — or a single severe violation — can lead to a permanent ban. Strikes are separate from FYF ineligibility.
Feature restriction
A limit TikTok can place on a specific capability — for example commenting or going LIVE — rather than on your whole account. It’s one of TikTok’s documented enforcement actions, distinct from content removal and from FYF ineligibility.
Account status
TikTok’s in-app page where creators can view the standing of their account, including warnings, violations and restrictions. It’s the most authoritative first-party check for account-level enforcement — but it does not, on its own, confirm whether individual videos are being recommended.
Algospeak
Creator slang and spelling workarounds (e.g. “unalive,” “seggs”) used in the belief that certain words reduce reach. It reflects real anxiety about moderation, but TikTok does not publish a banned-word list, so treat specific “forbidden words” claims as unverified.
Visibility-risk score
Shadowban Checker’s 0–100 summary of how many reach-limitation signals appear in your own data (reach cliffs, engagement-rate inversion, drops vs baseline, risky hashtags). It’s an estimate of patterns, not an official TikTok status — TikTok never confirms a reach limit.
See which of these signals are in your data
Shadowban Checker reads your own recent videos (read-only) and turns these terms into a plain visibility read.
Run a free visibility checkSources
- TikTok — For You feed Eligibility Standards (Community Guidelines)
- TikTok Newsroom — Supporting creators with an updated account enforcement system
- TikTok — Community Guidelines overview
Every factual claim above is drawn from these primary sources. Where TikTok has no official statement, the text says so and stays hedged.