Glossary
Terms
The words you run into when reach drops, each linked to the guide that explains it.
- Engagement rate
- Interactions (likes, reposts, replies) divided by views or followers. FSB shows it per profile from recent posts.
- For You timeline
- X's recommended feed, ranked by predicted engagement rather than by time. Guide
- Freedom of speech, not reach
- X's enforcement principle: content that breaks some rules may stay up but be shown to fewer people, sometimes with a label.
- from: operator
- Search syntax that limits results to one account, e.g. from:visiuun. Used in manual search-ban tests. Guide
- Ghost ban
- Also thread ban or reply ban. Replies from the account are hidden from conversations for everyone else. Guide
- Guest token
- A temporary credential X issues to logged-out web visitors. Logged-out checks run with one.
- Heavy ranker
- The main machine-learning model in the ranking system X published in 2023. It scores candidate posts by predicted engagement. Guide
- Locked account
- An account X has locked until the owner completes a check such as phone verification. Guide
- Logged-out view
- What an account looks like to someone not signed in to X, and largely to people who do not follow it. Shadowbans are only visible from here. Guide
- Negative feedback
- Actions such as "show less", mute and block. They carry large negative weight in ranking. Guide
- Protected account
- An account whose posts only approved followers can see. Its posts never appear in public search; that is not a shadowban. Guide
- Rate limit
- A cap on how many requests or actions are allowed in a time window. X rate-limits readers and posters; FSB rate-limits live checks to stay reliable.
- Reach
- How many people see a post. Ranking changes reach; a shadowban removes the post from places it would otherwise appear. Guide
- Search ban
- An account's posts are excluded from search results for other people, even for an exact from: query. Guide
- Search suggestion ban
- An account does not appear in the search box's autocomplete while people type its name or handle. Guide
- Sensitive media flag
- A marker on an account or its media that shows a warning before the content and can hide posts from searchers who filter sensitive content. Guide
- Shadowban
- Any restriction that hides an account or its posts from people who do not follow it, without notifying the owner. X calls it visibility filtering. Guide
- Suspension
- The account is removed from public view and shows "Account suspended" to everyone. Guide
- Temporary restriction
- A time-limited state where some features are disabled (for example posting or replying), shown to the owner as a notice. Guide
- Visibility filtering
- X's own term for limiting who can see a post or account instead of removing it. Guide
- Visibility limited label
- A notice X adds to a single post whose reach it has restricted for a possible rule violation. Guide
- Visibility score
- FSB's 0–100 summary: 100 is clean, each detected restriction removes 25 points and the sensitive flag removes 10. Guide