The time period typically refers to stealth actions by social media platforms to restrict a publish’s visibility. And it’s been developing rather a lot these days.
Simply final month, Elon Musk — Twitter’s new billionaire proprietor — used the time period within the context of the so-called Twitter Recordsdata, inside firm paperwork launched along with his authorization.
They confirmed that Twitter officers had debated blocking the New York Put up’s reporting on Hunter Biden, son of the present president, a month earlier than the 2020 election. Mr. Musk mentioned the paperwork proved the corporate’s leaders on the time had engaged in shadow banning.
Twitter initially defended its motion on the grounds that the reporting was unverified however later mentioned it might change its coverage for comparable content material.