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