After a pro-Palestinian post on social media, users have seen their reach plummet in recent days. Many see the invisible hand of the platforms and claim that they are victims of a ‘shadow ban’. What is that exactly?
Michiel Martin and Bruno StruysOctober 19, 2023, 7:09 PM
When Elisabeth Lucie Baeten, known on Instagram for her political satire videos, shared a video on the platform with the words ‘Free Palestine’, she raised some eyebrows. “Normally my reach is between 1,500 and 2,500 people after about ten minutes, but now I had 180.” Afterwards, she shared a post that simply linked to the account of activist Thomas Maddens, the creator of the video. “I immediately had 2,000 views again after 8 minutes.”
Baeten is by no means the only one who has stumbled over this since the conflict around the Gaza Strip broke out. Journalists, activists, politicians, influencers, even famous football players noticed it last week: their pro-Palestinian posts, images or hashtags generate only a fraction of their normal reach on Instagram.
She might not have even noticed it herself, says photographer Barbara Debeuckelaere, who is working on a project in the West Bank. “Followers let me know that they no longer saw my stories appearing on their timeline. And effective: in the first days after the outbreak of the conflict, I easily reached 200 to 300 people with a post. Now there are no more than 40.”
According to parent company Meta, Instagram’s stories feature suffered from a temporary ‘bug’ that occurred worldwide and ‘had nothing to do with the subject of the content’. However, the criticism is not new. Last year, Palestinian-Dutch model Bella Hadid wrote on Instagram: “When I post about Palestine, I am immediately shadowbanded and almost a million fewer people see my stories and messages.”
Elisabeth Lucie Baeten. Image © Rebecca Fertinel
‘Talking’
The phenomenon of ‘shadow ban’ has also been frequently claimed in recent days. Investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Azmat Khanna calls it “an enormous threat to the provision of information” on
But what exactly is shadowbanning? There is no fixed definition, says legal expert Paddy Leerssen (University of Amsterdam), because the phenomenon has been molded over the years on the internet. “In general, you could say that it is a sanction imposed by a platform on a user, without the user being aware of it.”
Many platforms seem to have evolved from a two-stream policy – you can post or you are (temporarily) blocked – to a more subtle form of moderation. Those who do not cross the line, but are a little close to the limit, are still visible but no longer receive any tailwind from the algorithm.
However, no one knows where that line is. And not even when you talk about it. Black Lives Matter protesters, trans activists, sex workers, even pole dancers have raised the issue of this invisible hand in the past. Republicans also feel targeted – Donald Trump even mentioned shadowbanning in his speech at the time of the Capitol storming.
Tricks
However, since the end of August, at least in the EU, a Digital Services Act has been in force that prohibits shadow banning, says Leerssen. “Platforms are obliged to report and explain sanctions. Otherwise you deprive people of the opportunity to resist, which saddles people with a sense of injustice.”
However, according to the platforms themselves, it is nothing more than that: a feeling. Meta now calls it a bug, TikTok called it a glitch a few years ago. While there are reports – including one commissioned by Meta itself – indicating that there is no equal loudspeaker being put on Israeli or Palestinian voices, the motto seems to be that users are imagining something.
According to Leerssen, this mainly says something about a broader lack of transparency. If you do not know how algorithms boost content, you cannot prove that certain content is suppressed. “Users have been asking for more detailed access to their data for some time. If they receive it, they might be better able to demonstrate that such an invisible sanction exists.”
A reduced reach alone is not proof – it could also be that your post is less appreciated. However, according to Thomas Maddens, who often shares activist videos, there is a clear trend, both on Instagram and on TikTok. “On the latter platform, the viewing figures of a popular pro-Palestinian video suddenly dropped to zero. Like TikTok had just turned off my video at some point.”
Tellingly, rather than complaining to Meta or TikTok, users are looking for tricks to confuse the algorithm. Maddens no longer creates subtitles with Instagram’s editor, so they are not read. Barbara Debeuckelaere uses other hashtags, such as #standwithisrael. “I just put ‘I don’t’ in front of that.”
“But I still find it very annoying,” says Debeuckelaere, who has good Palestinian and Israeli contacts. “This is a pivotal moment, when we must pull together for an urgent ceasefire. But we are currently being hindered from spreading peaceful messages.”
In some minds, the bridge seems to have been made quickly: Meta, as an American company, would side with Israel. The platforms mainly have themselves to thank for the fact that such an idea – true or not – finds breeding ground.
Image AP
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2023-10-19 17:09:39
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