According to a claim by Platformer, Twitter appears to have a hidden VIP list consisting of approximately 35 accounts that it closely watches and gives higher visibility to in its recommendation system. This list is reportedly kept under wraps.
On the list are notable users of Twitter including Elon Musk, former Vice President Joe Biden, the basketball player LeBron James, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, venture capitalist Marc Andreesen, conservative personality Ben Shapiro, and a few other individuals.
Twitter argues that the VIP list was not established to “shadowban” certain users on the network, despite the fact that it appears to have been built with the intention of monitoring the engagement of Twitter’s power users.
Shadowbanning is a method that is utilized by social media platforms in which a person’s content is prohibited from being viewed by other users without the knowledge of the individual themselves. This indicates that the content can still be seen by the user who originally posted it, but no one else on the site can see it.
The objective of shadowbanning is to lessen the visibility and reach of particular categories of content or individuals who are found to be in violation of the terms and conditions of the site. These can include accounts who engage in spamming or post content that could be detrimental to others, as well as accounts that the platform may determine to be of low quality or low relevance.
