Now that we answered, “What is shadowbanning,” you may wonder what the purpose of it is.
Shadowbanning is a “polite” way to get rid of troublemakers, especially spammers. Users who engage on a platform to spam or troll others make it a less pleasant experience for everyone. The hope was by taking away the incentive — interaction — the unwanted guest would lose interest and move on.
Shadowbanning still allows these people to access your content, but they can’t interact with it. So, it still allows them to be part of the community but discourages the undesirable behavior exhibited in interactions.