Shadowbanning and Its Impact on Brand Visibility, Influencer Engagement, and Ethical Marketing Strategies
Explore the implications of shadowbanning on brand visibility, influencer engagement, and ethical marketing strategies. Discover research topic ideas that delve into the effects of shadowbanning in digital marketing.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Realyn Manalo
5/27/20252 min read
In the digital marketing landscape, visibility is everything. From influencer-driven campaigns to brand-sponsored content, marketers rely heavily on social media platforms to deliver consistent reach and engagement. However, emerging forms of algorithmic moderation—particularly shadowbanning, or the covert demotion of content—pose significant challenges to transparency, trust, and campaign performance. Unlike explicit content bans, shadowbanning quietly reduces the discoverability of posts without notifying users. For marketers and influencers, this lack of visibility can undermine performance metrics, distort engagement analytics, and erode consumer trust. Despite its increasing relevance in brand management, shadowbanning remains poorly understood, raising urgent questions about fairness, platform accountability, and how marketers can ethically navigate algorithm-driven environments.
Who Can Use These Topics
This research is ideal for students and professionals pursuing the following courses or strands:
College Programs:
BSBA Marketing Management
BSBA Digital Marketing
BS Entrepreneurship
BA Communication
Senior High School Strands:
Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS)
Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM)
General Academic Strand (GAS)
Why This Topic Needs Research
While platform algorithms are central to digital marketing, several research gaps remain:
Limited brand-side insight into shadowbanning: Most existing research explores shadowbanning from the user or policy lens. Little is known about how these practices impact influencer campaigns, brand visibility, and consumer trust in marketing contexts (Leerssen, 2023).
Lack of marketing-specific response strategies: Although creators report adapting to reduced reach, there is insufficient analysis of how marketing teams adjust tactics, content formats, or budget allocations in response to suspected shadowbans (Delmonaco et al., 2024).
Neglected ethical branding concerns: Marketing research rarely explores how shadowbanning intersects with ethical standards, such as fairness in content delivery and transparency in sponsored messaging (Cotter, 2023).
Absence of platform-specific data analytics: Current studies do not evaluate whether certain industries or content types are more prone to demotion, leaving marketers without clear risk metrics for campaign planning (Risius & Blasiak, 2024).
Lack of tested algorithm-safe marketing tools: There is a gap in practical solutions or tools that help brands and influencers monitor shadowbanning risks or maintain engagement despite fluctuating algorithmic favor (Kojah et al., 2025).
Feasibility & Challenges by Target Group
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References
Cotter, K. (2023). “Shadowbanning is not a thing”: Black box gaslighting and the power to independently know and credibly critique algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 26(6), 1226-1243.
Delmonaco, D., Mayworm, S., Thach, H., Guberman, J., Augusta, A., & Haimson, O. L. (2024). " What are you doing, TikTok?": How Marginalized Social Media Users Perceive, Theorize, and" Prove" Shadowbanning. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 8(CSCW1), 1-39.
Kojah, S. A., Zhang, B. Z., Are, C., Delmonaco, D., & Haimson, O. L. (2025). " Dialing it Back:" Shadowbanning, Invisible Digital Labor, and how Marginalized Content Creators Attempt to Mitigate the Impacts of Opaque Platform Governance. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 9(1), 1-22.
Leerssen, P. (2023). An end to shadow banning? Transparency rights in the Digital Services Act between content moderation and curation. Computer Law & Security Review, 48, 105790.
Risius, M., & Blasiak, K. M. (2024). Shadowbanning: An Opaque Form of Content Moderation. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 1-13.