What X restrictions actually look like: notes from the FSB shadowban index

Most talk about shadowbans is anecdote: "my reach died, I must be banned." FSB checks accounts all day and keeps every result, so we can look at it the other way round: across all the accounts in the index, what is actually restricted? The numbers below update live from the shadowban index.

The headline

Out of 225 accounts in the index, 12.9% have at least one active restriction right now. That means most accounts people worry about are not shadowbanned at all. If your reach dropped, a live check is worth doing before you change anything.

Which restrictions show up

The most common real restriction right now is the search suggestion ban. The suggestion ban is the least visible of the four: your profile still works, you just stop appearing when people type your name. Read what it means and how to fix it.

Ghost bans are rare. When people say "my replies disappeared", it is far more often deboosting or a sensitive flag.

The sensitive flag is the real story

44.9% of checked accounts carry the sensitive-media flag. It is not a shadowban, but for anyone who hides sensitive content it behaves like one: your media sits behind a warning and your posts can drop out of their search. Many of these accounts switched on "mark media as sensitive" years ago and forgot. Here is how to check and turn it off.

Caveats

The index is not a random sample of X. It contains accounts people chose to check, which skews toward creators, artists and people who already suspect a problem. Treat the percentages as "among accounts people worry about", not "of all X".