X is nearing the release of its upcoming feature that will alert users about whether or not their account has been “shadowbanned,” a promise initially made by Elon Musk last year. Andrea Conway, a designer at X, provided a sneak peek of the feature, showcasing two mock-ups: an alert in the notifications tab and an informational page explaining why certain accounts’ visibility may be limited. The accounts may contain sensitive content, such as graphic, violent, or hateful material. The alert will include an appeal button for users to request a review of the decision.
This update builds upon X’s previous labeling feature for individual tweets that were “visibility limited” due to rule violations. However, now the restrictions will be visible at the account level, rather than just on specific tweets. Twitter and X have long faced criticism for restricting the reach of accounts without openly disclosing which ones are affected, leading to conspiracy theories surrounding “shadowbanning.” Last year, Musk shared internal company records that revealed discussions about visibility filtering, sparking his promise to provide users with a clear account status, the reason for any shadowban, and an appeals process.
While visibility filtering and shadowbanning are not exactly the same, this upcoming feature aims to add more transparency to X’s practices. Twitter clarified that shadowbanning refers to making someone’s content undiscoverable to everyone except the original poster, while visibility filtering hides tweets from various surfaces without completely removing them. The release of this feature is anticipated to generate both additional transparency and potential controversy. Although an official debut date remains unknown, Conway mentioned that the company will have more information to share soon.