Heart Evangelista. Image: Instagram/@iamhearte
Heart Evangelista is undaunted by what appeared to be an attempt to cause her Instagram profile to be “shadow banned,” an act that she called a “dirty tactic” as it unwittingly puts a user under the mercy of unscrupulous individuals who would spam report a legitimate account.
Replying to a follower on the social media platform, the actress-style maven on Sunday spoke up against those who she said are trying to “pull others down so they can get a headstart,” apparently referring to those who were reporting her account.
“Yup, they are trying again. I am being spammed by so many accounts [who] don’t follow me so [Instagram] will shadow ban [me]. Dirty tactics. I celebrate everyone [doing] what they love but I will not agree to this,” Evangelista said in answer to one commenter, @davey.dc.
Image: Screengrab from Instagram/@iamhearte
Without addressing anyone in particular, Evangelista said there were also others who would “steal peoples contacts that they worked on for years.”
Evangelista’s remarks were made days after she disclosed that there were recent attempts to ban her social media accounts as a form of “black propaganda,” although she has yet to reveal who are behind these moves.
On her Instagram Stories, she encouraged her followers to add her as a “favorite,” apparently in a bid to arrest her falling account integrity in the wake of the supposed shadow ban.
A shadow ban is a form of “stealth action” on social media where a platform prevents one’s account from being seen by others — without the user being aware of it. An account’s limited social media engagement is one of the apparent signs of being shadow banned, per tech platform Built In.
According to the New York Times, the term can be traced back to 2012 when Reddit users alleged that the platform banned access to American blog Gawker, as it’s known for speaking up about transparency in media. EDV