X just shipped a settings page called Under the Hood. Type it into search right now and you will find people asking the same question in different words: does this finally tell me if I'm shadowbanned?
The honest answer is more complicated than yes or no.
Under the Hood is real, and it pulls from X's own moderation systems, not a guess. But it was built to answer a narrower question than most people think it answers. You can meet every requirement, open the report, see nothing in it, and still have a reach problem the tool was never designed to catch.
That gap matters if you're trying to figure out why a post underperformed or why your account suddenly feels quieter. Circleboom Twitter runs a dedicated Shadowban Test that checks the actual visibility symptoms, not just the official record, and it works the moment you type in a username.
Check Your Twitter Shadowban Status - Free A Twitter shadowban silently kills your reach without any X notification. Circleboom's Shadowban Test reveals your status and shows how to fix it. Free.
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What is Circleboom Twitter?
Circleboom Twitter is an Official X (Twitter) Enterprise Developer, which means its tools pull data through X's own APIs instead of scraping pages or guessing at behavior behind the scenes.
- Runs a five part Shadowban Test that checks search visibility, reply visibility, and algorithmic distribution in one pass
- Calculates a Tweepcred style reputation score using follower quality, posting history, and account signals
- Flags fake, bot, and inactive followers so you know if a weak audience is dragging your reach down
- Looks up account age, numeric ID, and other metadata for quick identity checks
- Cleans up an audience by unfollowing inactive accounts that quietly hurt engagement
For anyone trying to figure out if a shadowban is the real cause of a reach drop, Circleboom Twitter gives a direct answer instead of a maybe.
How to check your shadowban status with Circleboom Twitter
- Open the Circleboom Shadowban Test page.
- Type the X (Twitter) username you want to check into the input field.
- Click Search.
- Circleboom evaluates the account against five restriction types: Search Suggestion Shadow, Total Search Blackout, Reply Lock, Reply Visibility Filter, and Early Engagement Seed.
- The result page shows a summary verdict at the top, followed by the five individual check results.
- Each check displays a status indicator, either pass or issue detected, along with a result label.
- Expand any check to read the full explanation of what that restriction means and how it affects your visibility.
What X's Under the Hood tool actually checks (and what it misses)
Under the Hood lives in X's settings menu. You request a report, and if you qualify, X generates a JSON file listing any official labels applied to your account or your posts.
Qualifying is the first hurdle. X only builds a report for accounts that are at least one year old and posted ten or more times in the previous calendar month. Miss either condition and there is no report at all, just a screen showing which box you didn't check.
Pass both conditions and you still only see your own account. There is no way to run the check on a competitor, an influencer you're vetting, or an account that reported you. The report is tied to whoever is logged in, full stop.
The data is never current either. X will not publish a month's report until at least ten days after that month ends, so the report you're reading is describing conditions from weeks earlier, not what's happening to your posts today.
What actually shows up in that report is a list of formal moderation labels: things like spam flags, adult content labels, restricted discoverability marks for reported abuse or hateful conduct, or account level marks such as being restricted to read only or flagged for impersonation. It's a real list, and it maps to real enforcement actions X's own systems track internally. If none of those specific labels were ever applied to you, the report comes back empty. Zero entries, nothing to expand, nothing to investigate further.
An empty report feels like proof you're in the clear. It isn't. Labels only cover formal moderation actions. They say nothing about algorithmic distribution problems, like a post landing in front of a weak initial audience and never building momentum because the people who saw it first didn't engage. That kind of throttling leaves no label behind, which means Under the Hood has nothing to show you, even though your reach really is being limited.
Why an empty Under the Hood report isn't the same as no shadowban
It only covers your own account. If you want to check whether a business partner, a new hire, or an account you're about to boost has a visibility problem, X's tool simply will not run.
It has a built in waiting period. By the time a report is available, the window where you could have caught and fixed the issue has often already closed.
It misses algorithmic throttling entirely. A shadowban isn't only about formal labels. Search suppression, reply hiding, and weak initial engagement seeding can all quietly cap your reach, and none of them require a label to exist. If your follower base is full of inactive or low quality accounts, your posts can land in a weak seed group and stall before anyone official ever flags anything. Cleaning that audience out with a tool like Unfollow Inactive Twitter Accounts addresses a cause Under the Hood was never built to detect.
It leaves the "am I shadowbanned right now" question unanswered. A monthly, gated, own account only report cannot tell you what's happening to a post you published this morning.
It can't be used to verify someone else before you engage with them. Vetting a new follow, a potential collaborator, or a reported account requires checking a username you don't control, which Under the Hood does not allow.
It gives you a pass or fail screen before it gives you data. Fall short on account age or posting frequency and you never even reach the report itself, just a locked page telling you which condition you missed. For newer or lower volume accounts, which are often the ones most worried about visibility, the tool is unavailable exactly when curiosity is highest.
FAQ
Does X's Under the Hood tool replace a shadowban check?
No. It reports official moderation labels applied to your own account, not the full range of visibility restrictions a shadowban can involve. A clean report only means no formal label was applied that month, not that your reach is unrestricted.
Why does my Under the Hood report say I'm not eligible?
X requires your account to be at least one year old and to have posted ten or more times in the previous calendar month. If either condition isn't met, X won't generate a report at all.
Can I use Under the Hood to check someone else's account?
No. The report only works for the account you're logged into. To check another username, including a competitor or someone you're vetting, you need a separate tool built for that.
What does it mean if my Under the Hood report has no labels?
It means X's systems didn't apply a formal moderation label to your account or posts that month. It does not rule out algorithmic distribution issues like search suppression or a weak engagement seed group.
How often is the Under the Hood report updated?
Once a month, and only after at least a ten day delay past month end. The report you're reading is always describing older activity, not your current status.
Does the Circleboom Shadowban Test work on accounts other than mine?
Yes. You enter any public X username and run the check, whether it's your own account, a client's, or one you're researching before you engage with it.
Final thoughts
Under the Hood is a genuinely useful addition to X's transparency toolkit, but it was built to answer "was a formal label applied to me," not "is my reach being limited." Those are different questions, and the gap between them is exactly where most real shadowban problems live.
If what you actually need is a fast, specific answer, run Circleboom Twitter's Shadowban Test on the account in question and see all five visibility checks at once.
Circleboom - Check Your Twitter Shadowban Status - Free A Twitter shadowban silently kills your reach without any X notification. Circleboom's Shadowban Test reveals your status and shows how to fix it. Free.
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