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Yep, Shadowbanning Is Real
QUICK! The Window to See This Is Closing Fast!
I published an article about the third (or lower) tier of the Medium algorithm, which essentially shadowbans articles.
The article linked to those articles that I had published in 2023 that had been shadowbanned, resulting in them receiving views numbering fewer than 5% of the average views for my articles.
Sure enough, my article about shadowbanning was shadowbanned.
In the first 12 hours after publication, the article received 74 views, mostly from people who subscribe to receive e-mail notices of my new articles.
Then, the algorithm, or a person, flipped a switch, and over the subsequent 48 hours, the article received only 14 views.
That’s very different from the normal pattern for a distributed article in which views increase over the second through fourth days, then slowly taper down. Some articles are fortunate enough to have steady stream of views for weeks or months.
