Update: [a], [b] (the version in grey below may just be the correct one - still stupid/lazy of Twitter but not outright malicious. We'll see)
Update 2: Yep, it ran out after ~24 hours. Nothing to see here, move along citizens.
Yours truly has recently been shadowbanned on Twitter, presumably for this tweet and the conversation around it[1]:
@St_Rev @Status451Blog my problem w/ victim narrative is that it doesn't have a script for self-improvement - working on one's social skills
Judging from the timing of the ban, it's the only plausible trigger (update: see the grey part below). This comes as kind of a surprise since mine is not the kind of account to get involved in Gamergate or other controversies Twitter would shadowban people for. Nor does my alt. In fact I keep out of most politics pretty scrupulously and focus on writing fiction and shitposting about philosophy and technology. A bunch of alt-righters and free speech types follow me but that's unsurprising in this part of twitter. I am among the most harmless citizens around.
So what does it look like?
Experiments have showed that, should you follow the shadowbanned person (me), you will see their tweets in your Timeline, but you will not see them in the thread view (unless you navigate to the tweet directly):
In general, quoted tweets may or may not show up, depending on whether they appear in your timeline, a focused tweet, or a non-focused tweet. It's complicated.
When you look at a profile that has retweeted me, you will see those retweets show up, but they will not show up in your timeline (unless you follow me).
You will also never receive notifications about any of my tweets. If you expect a response from me, your best bet is to lurk my /with_replies.
Some alternative clients don't seem to support shadowbans. I wonder if my tweets are in the API output after all, just hidden later? In that case, I could write a userscript that unhides shadowbanned users.
What can I do about it?
Turns out, not much. There's no official appeal form, @Support won't respond (it probably doesn't even get notified about my tweets). One example of an unban I found seems to have required a minor shitstorm, but according to another article (which is pretty comprehensive and informative, go read it) it "usually lasts 24 hours"?
I guess I'll wait to see how things develop. Worst case I get a new account.
published: Sep 16 2016.epistemic status: solid.
When you look at a profile that has retweeted me, you will see those retweets show up, but they will not show up in your timeline (unless you follow me).
You will also never receive notifications about any of my tweets. If you expect a response from me, your best bet is to lurk my /with_replies.
Some alternative clients don't seem to support shadowbans. I wonder if my tweets are in the API output after all, just hidden later? In that case, I could write a userscript that unhides shadowbanned users.