How to check if you are shadowbanned on Reddit
If your Reddit posts are invisible to everyone but you, your account may be shadowbanned. Here is how to confirm it in under two minutes, distinguish it from subreddit removals, and what to do next.
- 01Quick answer (TL;DR)
- 02What is a Reddit shadowban?
- 035 ways to check if you are shadowbanned
- 04Warning signals lookup table
- 05Shadowban vs. AutoMod vs. spam filter
- 06What triggers a shadowban
- 07Prevention: Do and Don't
- 08How to appeal a shadowban
- 09Common mistakes that make it worse
- 10Recovery timeline and what to expect
- 11FAQ
TL;DR: How to check if you are shadowbanned on Reddit
Open an incognito window and visit reddit.com/user/yourname. If it shows a 404 error or the message "nobody on Reddit goes by that name", you are shadowbanned. To get a second confirmation, take any post you recently submitted and append .json to its URL, then look for the removed_by_category field. A null value combined with the 404 profile is the definitive shadowban fingerprint. Once confirmed, the only path to recovery is an appeal at reddit.com/appeals.
What a Reddit shadowban actually is
A Reddit shadowban is an account-level, sitewide enforcement action applied by Reddit admins or automated systems. From your own perspective, everything looks completely normal. You can log in, post, and comment. Your posts appear in your feed. Your karma counter shows numbers. But from every other user's perspective, you do not exist. Your content is invisible. Your profile returns a 404. Your comments appear in threads you wrote them in, but no one else can see them.
Reddit's internal systems categorize accounts using a five-tier Contributor Quality Score (CQS). Accounts rated "Low" or "Lowest" have their content filtered sitewide, which is the practical mechanism behind what users call a shadowban. The term "shadowban" itself is not used officially by Reddit, but the effect is well documented and widely confirmed through independent testing.
One useful analogy: imagine talking at a party where everyone can hear you, and then suddenly everyone becomes politely deaf to your voice specifically. You see everyone around you, you hear the conversations, but nothing you say lands. That is the shadowban experience, except you often do not realize it until you test from a logged-out device.
Shadowban vs. formal suspension
A shadowban carries zero notification. A formal sitewide suspension sends an email and shows a "suspended" badge on the profile. Both make content invisible to others, but a suspension is explicit while a shadowban is silent. Reddit runs periodic "ban waves" -- at least twice per year based on community observation -- where automated systems sweep for accounts matching spam patterns in bulk.
5 ways to check if you are shadowbanned on Reddit
Start with Method 1. It takes under 60 seconds and is accurate in the vast majority of cases. Methods 2-5 provide either confirmation or deeper diagnostic detail about the type of removal.
- 1
Incognito profile check
Most reliable- 1Copy your profile URL: reddit.com/user/YOUR_USERNAME
- 2Open a new private/incognito window (Chrome: three dots > New Incognito Window)
- 3Paste the URL and load the page
- 4If you see "nobody on Reddit goes by that name" or a 404, you are shadowbanned
- 5If the profile loads but recent posts are invisible, you have a soft restriction
Bonus: post a comment in any active thread, then immediately check that thread URL in incognito. If your comment is invisible, the ban is confirmed.
- 2
Third-party shadowban checkers
Fastest- 1Visit cable.ayra.ch/reddit and enter your username
- 2Or use redship.io/free-tools/reddit-shadowban-checker
- 3Or try redplus.ai's Reddit shadowban tool
- 4These tools query Reddit's public unauthenticated API endpoints
- 5A 'not visible' result matches the incognito test outcome
These tools work by fetching profile data the same way an anonymous visitor would. They agree with the incognito test in the vast majority of cases.
- 3
The JSON removed_by_category trick
Most diagnostic- 1Open a post you recently submitted
- 2Append .json to the post URL: reddit.com/r/sub/comments/abc123/title/.json
- 3In the JSON response, find: response[0].data.children[0].data.removed_by_category
- 4A value of 'reddit' means Reddit's sitewide spam filter caught it
- 5A null value combined with a 404 profile confirms a full shadowban
If you get a 429 rate-limit error, use: curl -A 'decoder/1.0' <url>.json in your terminal instead.
- 4
r/ShadowBan (historical context only)
No longer active- 1The r/ShadowBan subreddit and MarkdownShadowBot were popular tools before 2023
- 2The subreddit closed around August 2023 and has not reopened
- 3Do not waste time trying to post there in 2026
- 4Use the incognito check or third-party tools instead
Multiple independent sources confirmed r/ShadowBan is closed. The bot no longer responds. This is included here so you know not to follow outdated guides still circulating in 2026.
- 5
Reveddit (limited in 2026)
Moderators only- 1Reveddit.com historically let you see removed posts by replacing 'reddit' with 'reveddit' in any URL
- 2Reddit restricted the Pushshift API (Reveddit's data source) to verified moderators only in 2023-2024
- 3For regular users, Reveddit no longer reliably returns removed content
- 4Moderators of a subreddit can still view removed content at reddit.com/r/SUBNAME/about/log
- 5For non-mods, the JSON method is the better diagnostic tool now
If you are a subreddit moderator trying to investigate removals, the mod log at reddit.com/r/SUBNAME/about/log is your best resource.
Stop shadowbans before they start.
SubredditAnalyzer flags the mod strictness, link policy, and account-age gates that trigger removals, so you post in a way that keeps your account visible.
Post without the banWarning signals: what each symptom means and what to do
Not every weird Reddit behavior means you are shadowbanned. This table maps the most common symptoms to their most likely cause and the right next step.
| Signal you observe | Most likely meaning | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Profile returns 404 in incognito | Full sitewide shadowban applied | Appeal via reddit.com/appeals immediately |
| Posts appear to you but others see nothing | Shadowban or very aggressive spam filter | Confirm with incognito check; stop posting until resolved |
| Posts not showing in /new feed | Subreddit AutoMod rule or spam filter triggered | Check .json removed_by_category value; read sub rules |
| Zero votes, zero replies across all subs | Likely shadowban, especially if recent behavior changed | Run incognito profile check; run third-party checker |
| Only missing in one specific subreddit | AutoMod rule in that subreddit, not a sitewide shadowban | Read that sub's sidebar rules; contact sub moderators |
| DMs stopped working | Account restriction or shadowban | Check profile in incognito; appeal if 404 confirmed |
| Karma counter stopped increasing | Your votes are not being counted (shadowban signal) | Incognito check + third-party tool for confirmation |
| JSON shows removed_by_category: 'reddit' | Reddit's sitewide spam filter flagged the post | Reduce posting frequency; review content for spam signals |
| JSON shows removed_by_category: 'automod_filtered' | AutoMod sent post to modqueue, not removed | Wait for human mod review; message mods politely |
| JSON shows removed_by_category: 'moderator' | Human moderator manually removed the post | Read the sub rules; modmail to ask about the removal |
The definitive shadowban fingerprint
Two things together confirm a shadowban beyond doubt: (1) your profile returns a 404 or "nobody goes by that name" when viewed in an incognito window, AND (2) the removed_by_category field in your post's .json response is null. A shadowbanned post is not "removed" in any logged way. The account itself is suppressed, so the post metadata appears untouched while the content is invisible to everyone else.
Shadowban vs. AutoMod removal vs. spam filter
These three systems are frequently confused with each other, and conflating them leads to the wrong fix. Reddit has three independent content enforcement layers, and only one of them is a shadowban.
Reddit's enforcement architecture has three distinct layers. Layer 1 is the sitewide system (shadowban or formal suspension), applied by Reddit admins or automated algorithms. Layer 2 is the subreddit-level AutoModerator, which every community configures independently using YAML rules that match on account age, karma thresholds, banned keywords, and domain blocklists. Layer 3 is human moderator action, where volunteer mods manually remove individual posts.
The fastest way to distinguish Layer 1 from Layers 2 and 3: post something in an unrelated subreddit you have never posted in before. If that post also disappears, you have a sitewide issue (Layer 1). If it appears normally, you have a community-specific issue (Layers 2 or 3). That single test saves most people 30 minutes of confused troubleshooting.
| Type | Scope | Applied by | User notified? | How to distinguish it | How to fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadowban (sitewide) | All subreddits, all content | Reddit admins or automated systems | No notification at all | Profile returns 404 in incognito; JSON null + 404 | Appeal at reddit.com/appeals |
| AutoMod removal (subreddit-level) | Single subreddit only | Subreddit's AutoModerator rules | Sometimes a removal reason message | JSON shows automod_removed or automod_filtered; only affects one sub | Read sub rules; adjust post; contact moderators |
| Reddit spam filter | Site-wide but less severe than shadowban | Reddit's ML algorithm (Contributor Quality Score) | No notification | JSON shows removed_by_category: 'reddit'; posting rate normal in profile | Reduce posting volume; build karma organically |
| Human moderator removal | Single post or comment | Volunteer subreddit moderators | Optional removal reason | JSON shows removed_by_category: 'moderator'; account works elsewhere | Read sub rules; appeal in modmail if unfair |
| Formal sitewide suspension | All subreddits, all content | Reddit admin team (Trust and Safety) | Yes, via email and in-app message | You receive a notification; profile shows 'suspended' | Appeal at reddit.com/appeals; contact [email protected] |
What the removed_by_category JSON field tells you
No logged removal. Combined with a 404 profile, this confirms a sitewide shadowban.
Reddit's sitewide spam filter flagged the post. Less severe than a full shadowban but still sitewide.
AutoMod sent the post to the modqueue for human review. Not yet removed -- a moderator may still approve it.
AutoMod automatically deleted the post per a subreddit rule. Check the sidebar rules for what triggered it.
A human moderator manually removed the post. Contact the subreddit via modmail for context.
Reddit's Trust and Safety team removed the post. This typically involves serious policy violations.
You deleted the post yourself. No action needed.
What triggers a Reddit shadowban
Most shadowbans are caused by a small set of behaviors. The platform's Contributor Quality Score (CQS) system tracks behavioral signals continuously and applies restrictions automatically when thresholds are crossed.
Cross-posting the same URL to multiple subs
Posting the same domain link to four or more subreddits within 24 hours is one of the fastest shadowban triggers. Reddit's algorithm correlates the shared domain with the timestamp and flags the account automatically.
Vote manipulation
Using multiple accounts to upvote your own content, or organizing upvote brigades via Discord, Telegram, or private groups, is a top-three cause of admin-applied shadowbans. Reddit's detection is sophisticated and covers coordinated behavior across IP clusters.
Ban evasion
Creating a new account after a previous account was banned is flagged as ban evasion. Reddit tracks posting IPs, device fingerprints, and behavioral patterns. Even changing your IP address often does not fool the detection.
Datacenter and flagged VPN IPs
Certain VPN exit nodes and datacenter IPs have been used extensively for spam in the past. Reddit maintains blocklists of these IPs. Posting from a flagged IP, even on an otherwise clean account, can trigger automated restrictions.
High self-promotion ratio
If your post history shows that most or all of your submissions link to a single domain, Reddit's Contributor Quality Score (CQS) drops you into a lower trust tier. CQS is a five-level internal rating; accounts rated 'Low' or 'Lowest' are filtered sitewide.
New account + rapid high-volume posting
Brand-new accounts that post 10 or more times within the first few hours trigger automated spam review. Reddit assumes fresh accounts with immediate high-volume behavior are bot-operated or coordinated marketing attempts.
Reddit's periodic ban waves
Reddit runs at least two major enforcement sweeps per year, historically at the end of summer and in January-February. During these waves, automated systems process large numbers of accounts matching spam patterns in bulk. Accounts that have been quietly accumulating risk factors (high self-promotion ratios, unverified emails, flagged IP history) often receive bans during these sweeps even if they have been posting without incident for weeks. This is why some users report shadowbans that seem to come from nowhere. If you post on a regular cadence, verify your email, and maintain a clean contribution ratio, your account is much less likely to be swept up in these bulk enforcement events.
Understanding which subreddits have strict mod rules and which AutoMod configurations are likely to affect your account is one of the best preventive measures you can take. Tools like SubredditAnalyzer flag mod strictness levels and link policies across communities, so you can see the risk profile before you post, not after.
How to avoid a Reddit shadowban
Prevention is substantially easier than recovery. The behaviors below cover the vast majority of shadowban cases. Avoiding the "Don't" column eliminates roughly 80% of the risk.
- Build karma over 30+ days before any promotional posting
- Use one account consistently with a real posting history
- Follow the 9:1 rule: nine helpful contributions per promotional mention
- Verify your account email address immediately after signup
- Read every subreddit's sidebar rules before posting
- Post from a residential IP on a device with a clean browsing history
- Disclose your affiliation clearly when mentioning your own work
- Post the same link or comment text to multiple subreddits in the same day
- Create new accounts after a previous account was banned (ban evasion)
- Use multiple accounts to upvote your own content or coordinate upvotes
- Post more than 8 times in any 24-hour window across any combination of subs
- Share masked, redirected, or shortened URLs (bit.ly, t.co, etc.)
- Use a datacenter VPN IP or exit node associated with prior spam accounts
- Post from an account with an unverified email address
- Use AI-generated or heavily templated writing patterns in all your posts
The 9:1 rule and what it actually means for your account
Reddit's informal "9:1 rule" means that at most 10% of your activity should be promotional or self-referential. The remaining 90% should be genuine contributions -- answering questions, sharing useful resources, commenting on threads in your interest area. Mods in quality communities explicitly check your posting history before approving anything that looks promotional. If the last 20 posts in your history all link to one domain, your submission gets removed regardless of how good the content is. See the full breakdown in our guide on how to promote on Reddit without getting banned.
If your posts keep disappearing even when you think you are following the rules, read our deep dive on why Reddit posts get removed for the full breakdown of every removal layer.
How to appeal a Reddit shadowban step by step
The official appeal path is reddit.com/appeals. There is no other reliable way to recover a shadowbanned account. Follow these steps in order.
- 1
Confirm the shadowban first
Run the incognito profile check before submitting an appeal. If your profile loads normally, you are not shadowbanned. Appeals for accounts that are not actually shadowbanned waste your one submission and may create an unnecessary record.
- 2
Stay logged into the affected account
Navigate to reddit.com/appeals while signed in as the shadowbanned account. The form pre-fills your username. If you are not logged in, the form will not correctly associate your submission with the account.
- 3
Complete the appeal form accurately
Enter your username and the email address associated with the account. Reddit's team verifies ownership against account records before reviewing the appeal.
- 4
Write a clear 150-250 word appeal message
Do not claim you did nothing wrong if your posting history shows otherwise. Reddit's team can see everything. Be honest about what happened, take responsibility where appropriate, and commit clearly to following the Content Policy going forward. Tone matters more than length.
- 5
Submit exactly once and stop
Submit the form a single time and do not post new content, create alternate accounts, or submit additional appeals while waiting. Multiple submissions, continued posting, and ban evasion attempts all actively damage your case and can permanently close it.
- 6
Monitor your email for a response
Reddit sends appeal responses by email (including to your spam folder). Response time is typically 3-7 business days, occasionally up to two weeks. If your appeal is denied, wait at least 30 days before submitting a substantially different second appeal.
What to write in your appeal message
Your appeal message does not need to be long. 150 to 250 words is the right range. The tone matters more than the word count. Do not open with "I did nothing wrong" unless your account history clearly supports that. Reddit's team reviews accounts before responding and can see your full post history. Acknowledge what happened specifically, explain what you understand about why the ban was applied, and commit clearly to future compliance. Avoid vague phrases like "I promise to follow the rules." Be specific about which behaviors you will change.
Appeal success rate is approximately 60-70% for shadowbans, significantly higher than for other ban types. This is because many shadowbans are applied by automated systems and represent false positives. First-offense minor violations have roughly 40-50% success rates. Severe violations -- vote manipulation, doxxing, repeat ban evasion -- are rarely overturned.
Alternative contact if the appeals form does not work: reddit.com/contact or the admin team directly at [email protected]. Do not use these as a first step. The appeals form is the correct primary channel.
Common mistakes that make a shadowban worse
Most people who discover they are shadowbanned make at least one of these mistakes in the first 24 hours. All of them reduce the chances of a successful appeal.
Continuing to post while shadowbanned. Every post you make while shadowbanned is invisible to everyone else but visible to you. Continuing to post does not help. It can signal to Reddit's systems that the account is still actively attempting to circumvent the ban.
Creating a new account immediately after discovering the ban. This is classified as ban evasion, one of the most serious violations. Reddit tracks IP addresses, device fingerprints, and behavioral patterns across accounts. A ban evasion flag on your history makes future appeals nearly impossible.
Submitting multiple appeals in quick succession. Reddit's appeal review team sees repeated submissions as a signal of bad faith. Submit once, wait for the response. If denied, wait at least 30 days and approach the second appeal with a substantially different framing.
Following outdated guides that mention r/ShadowBan or Reveddit. The r/ShadowBan subreddit and MarkdownShadowBot closed around 2023. Reveddit lost Pushshift API access and no longer works for regular users. Guides from 2021-2022 recommending these tools waste your time. Use the incognito check and .json method instead.
Confusing AutoMod removal with a shadowban. If your posts only disappear in one subreddit but your account works normally everywhere else, you are not shadowbanned. You hit an AutoMod rule specific to that community. Read the subreddit's sidebar rules and contact the moderators via modmail.
Asking friends to upvote your posts after discovering the ban. Vote manipulation is a primary shadowban trigger. If your account is already under review and you coordinate upvotes, you turn a potentially reversible automated ban into a harder admin-applied enforcement action.
Recovery timeline and what to expect after appealing
Waiting period
Reddit's appeal system typically sends an automated confirmation. Your account remains shadowbanned during review. Do not post, do not create alternate accounts, do not submit a second appeal. The review team processes submissions in order.
Active review window
The team reviews your appeal and account history. First-offense automated bans (false positives) are typically resolved within this window. Complex cases or accounts with longer histories of policy violations take longer.
Response arrives
Reddit sends the decision by email. Check your spam folder. If approved, the shadowban is lifted immediately. Your content history is not restored to visibility. Future posts will appear normally.
Next steps
Wait at least 30 days before reappealing. The second appeal should address the specific reason for denial and include a substantially different explanation. Submitting the same message again typically results in another denial.
Rebuilding trust signals
Even after a shadowban is lifted, your Contributor Quality Score may remain lower than before. Rebuild it through 3-6 weeks of consistent, non-promotional contributions: thoughtful comments, answering questions, sharing resources without self-promotion. Understand which subreddits have the link policies and account-age gates most likely to affect you before you start posting again. See our guides on how much karma you need to post and how to get karma on Reddit for the fastest clean rebuild.
Building a clean contribution record going forward
The single most effective long-term prevention strategy is maintaining a genuine account. Post in communities you actually read. Answer questions you actually know the answer to. Engage with topics you are actually interested in. Reddit's CQS system rewards consistent, distributed, topic-appropriate engagement. Accounts that look like real people are almost never shadowbanned.
If you are planning to promote something on Reddit in the future, read our guide on how to promote on Reddit without getting banned for the account-warming playbook that keeps your profile out of the spam filter entirely. And check how much karma you need to post in specific subreddits so you know the thresholds before you invest time in a community. You can also use SubredditAnalyzer to pre-check mod strictness and link policies across any community before posting. Getting flagged once is recoverable. Getting flagged twice on the same account is significantly harder to come back from.
Reddit shadowban FAQ
The most common questions about Reddit shadowbans, how to detect them, and how to recover.
How do I check if I am shadowbanned on Reddit?+−
Open an incognito window and visit reddit.com/user/YOUR_USERNAME while logged out. If you see a 404 error or 'nobody on Reddit goes by that name', you are shadowbanned. You can confirm by checking a recently submitted post URL with .json appended and looking for the removed_by_category field in the response. Third-party tools like cable.ayra.ch/reddit and redship.io/free-tools/reddit-shadowban-checker also provide a quick answer.
What is the difference between a shadowban and a subreddit removal?+−
A shadowban is account-level and applied sitewide by Reddit admins or automated systems. All your content across every subreddit becomes invisible to other users. A subreddit removal is post-level and community-specific, applied by a subreddit's AutoModerator rules or human mods. The key test: if your content is missing in one subreddit but works normally everywhere else, you hit an AutoMod rule, not a shadowban.
Does Reddit notify you when you are shadowbanned?+−
No. A shadowban carries no notification, no email, and no in-app message. That is what makes it a shadowban. From your perspective, everything looks completely normal -- you can log in, post, and comment. Only other users see nothing. A formal sitewide suspension (which is different) does send an email. If you have never received a message and something feels off, run the incognito profile check.
How do I appeal a Reddit shadowban in 2026?+−
Stay logged into the affected account, then visit reddit.com/appeals and complete the form. Enter your username, associated email address, and a clear 150-250 word appeal message. Be honest about what happened, take responsibility where appropriate, and commit to following the Content Policy. Submit the form exactly once. Reddit typically responds by email within 3-7 business days. The shadowban appeal success rate is approximately 60-70%, highest for automated false positives.
What triggers a Reddit shadowban?+−
The most common triggers are: posting the same link to multiple subreddits within 24 hours, vote manipulation or coordinating upvotes with others, creating new accounts after a prior account was banned (ban evasion), posting more than 8 times in a 24-hour window from a new account, and having a high self-promotion ratio where most posts link to one domain. Using datacenter VPN IPs and unverified email accounts also elevate the risk significantly.
My posts are not showing in /new. Am I shadowbanned?+−
Not necessarily. If your posts are invisible only in one specific subreddit but visible everywhere else, you hit a subreddit-level AutoMod rule, not a sitewide shadowban. Check the subreddit's sidebar rules and contact the moderators via modmail. To confirm whether it is a shadowban, run the incognito profile check and append .json to a post URL to read the removed_by_category value. A 'reddit' value means Reddit's spam filter. A null value plus a 404 profile confirms a full shadowban.
More free Reddit tools and guides
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