May 21, 2025
In the
Matter of:
FEDERAL TRADE
COMMISSION
Request for
Public Comments Regarding Technology Platform Censorship
Docket
number FTC-2025-0023
Good FTC
Commissioners,
Am I being
shadow banned on the social media platform X? Maybe. Let’s examine the
evidence.
First, I
am not a social media influencer. I currently have 2,069 followers on X,
roughly the same as I had on Twitter for years. While it was Twitter, I enjoyed
many exchanges with others, and often had my posts retweeted. I mainly post
about issues of media policy and disinformation, and my point of view differs
from that of current X owner Elon Musk. But having lived through fire
evacuations, I also post an evacuation checklist whenever a major fire breaks
out. Those posts gained the most traction.
Since
Twitter became X, the personal exchanges went away, and I get very few
retweets, even when asking whether people can see my posts. Is it shadowbanning?
Perhaps it’s just their new algorithm. How would I know? I only know that the
eyeballs on my evacuation checklist posts used to be high but have dwindled
down to very few.
Please see
my posts from July 2022 compared to similar posts I have been making in recent
days:
JULY
2022:

MAY 2025:


As the
Commissioners can see, the number of public views on these similar posts changed
dramatically after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Does that mean X is shadow
banning my posts?
I can just
say I see posts from many people on X complaining about just that.
Thank you
for taking up this critically important issue.
Sincerely,
Sue Wilson
Media
Action Center