The same happens with instagram and facebook, is a pain in the ass. Tbh is getting more and more difficult to use a vpn all the time even for general browsing, captchas are annoying and that cloudflare security check activates on a lot of sites.
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Sorry about the confusion, I meant I did not have any sucess using a VPN.
I’m fairly new to Reddit, but how do I know if I’m shadowbanned on Reddit? I created an account a few days ago and it seems like every single posts and thread I make is banned or removed by the autobot. I’m able to browse Reddit, but I can’t seem to post anywhere. Yes, I’m using a VPN and I’m wondering if I’m somehow banned from posting.
Well, you asked how you can tell if you’ve been shadowbanned and you literally answered your question.
(or maybe because your account is new and you may need to wait)
But there’s not an exact way to know anyway. You could have a shadowban in other subreddits and you may not know.
I’m trying to get a confirmation. If in shadowbanned in one group, does this become sitewide? Seems weird that I’m shadowbanned rather than outright banned.
AFAIK if your account is marked as suspicious or is shadowbanned your whole account may be affected. That’s why the best option is to just give up on Reddit.
But if you recently created an account maybe you need to wait some time depending on the subreddit to interact. Some subreddits block new users or with low Reddit karma.
Super late to this story, but I thought I’d comment since my Reddit account got recently suspended for similar reasons.
I understand you don’t want to link your credit card to any purchase, but there are various VPNs for which you can pay in cash directly, they include Proton VPN, Mullvad VPN, and IVPN. More over, you can also use the Proxy Store which also accepts cash for services such as Mullvad VPN, and IPVN. It’s even more private than paying them directly.
I strongly suggest you try Mullvad VPN, even if it’s just for a month. It will only cost you €5.
QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE:
1) How do you know you were shadowbanned?
I ask this because my account was locked/suspended, which is not the same as shadowbanned. Shadowbanned means you can still use your account normally, but your posts and comments are not as visible, which you might not notice right away.
When your account is suspended, you can’t do anything. You can’t up/downvote a post. You can’t publish a post. You can’t comment. You can’t join a new sub. You can’t do anything, and your account is notified that it is suspended. You’ll get a big red banner telling you so every time you go on Reddit.
You’ll also get a message in your inbox.
2) How do you know you were shadowbanned for using a VPN?
Did the mods tell you that?
3) How were you able to contact Reddit’s customer support?
I was not able to reach them. I know that there was a time when you could reach Reddit Support via email (contact@reddit.com / @reddit.zendesk.com), but they no longer allow that.
Was it the case when you posted in December 2024?
Every time I have reached out to Reddit to find out why my account was suspended or why I am unable to receive the email to reset my password, I get a bot reply. Even when I message mods by their username, the response is bot instead of the mod.
Final thoughts:
Although my VPN is a paid subscription, I am confident that it’s one of the reason my account was suspended. The other being that I use an email alias.
I have yet to find a way to reach Reddit support’s team. I fear my only way is to create a new account, and to comment with it on a post where mods are present.
Well, I think I’m shadowbanned, but I don’t get those error messages that you mentioned. I’m wondering if I should try creating a new account without BPN and see what happens?
Probably to take more data out of you to check you’re not a spammer. BTW, by the screenshots you shared your account seems to be permanently banned anyways.
The first screenshot says permanently banned. But when I look in my inbox, it says it was suspended for suspicious activity and asks me to reset my password. That tells me it’s not permanently banned, and that the red banner is a generic message that appears, and it is not always accurate.
Have you ever logged into an online account and had your access revoked with a message saying you account was suspended for inactivity, when you know you logged in literally the day before?
That has happened to me before, and I think this is the same scenario. You get a generic message that does not apply to your case.
When you get permanently banned from a website, you cannot even log in. I can log into my account no problem. I just can’t use it.
I’d love to know the results! I’m personally interested if they flag privacy-oriented browsers like Mullvad Browser or Brave and if they flag email aliases. I haven’t had time to re-try with Cloudflare WARP either.
Using Mullvpn + browser seems to get any account I make shadowbanned within 24 hours. Confirmed location and gateway is irrelevant, and this is entirely new because I’ve just been lurking and occasionally commenting on Reddit with this setup for over a year, and what I do comment is incredibly benign. Reddit will also, seemingly arbitrarily, block signins with the vpn on for a still functioning non-banned account, regardless of where I’m connected to/what my IP is. This part is impossible to reproduce, it just happens randomly at this point giving a credential error, but if I were to turn the vpn off and switch to another browser, the exact same credentials will work. Then a few hours later, I’ll be able to sign in on my main Mullvad browser with the vpn still on, no rhyme or reason.
My main account I use on mobile is untouched.
Seems Reddit is starting even more beef with vpns and possibly privacy oriented browsers.
If you want a fool proof way to check for shadow ban / Perma ban, check this link:
reddit dot com /appeals
If you’re able to use the textbox to make an appeal, you’re shadow / perma banned.
The other thing is, Reddit is extremely invasive. It’s not just IP, VPN, or even user agent string.
There’s a thing called browser fingerprinting, where they use JavaScript to get a massive amount of information about you.
They can even check browser addons / extensions, your unique set of addons can be used against you. Using a user agent switcher can make you stick out like a sore thumb, they have other methods to check what OS and browser you’re actually using.
So if your user agent string says Windows 10 but you’re on Linux that will stick out.
Browser and OS spoofing won’t work on Reddit. You’d need to use an actual Windows OS, or VM (virtual machine) with windows on it.
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You might find this related thread on Reddit and browser fingerprinting useful. A mod weighed in with some insight.
It’s so unfortunate that many communities that I am fond of are on reddit. It’s unfortunately impossible for me to interact with it given reddit’s weird policies and horrible mod automation. I try to create reddit accounts to advocate them moving to Discourse or some other platform, but I always get shadow banned. It’s beyond me how they (both users and mods) are all just fine staying in that cesspool of a website.
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Reddit is a bitch. they will ban just for saying something that aint mainstream. use WestNet VPN to by pass VPN restrictions because WestNet gives a real ip . but if u say something non NPC reddit mods are super sensitive and will ban you.
I also use a VPN 24/7, and I recently tried to create a new Reddit account. Before I created my account, I read that it was possible to create an account without an email address, but that was not my experience. I had to provide one, and as always, I used an alias.
My first post, which I had already drafted before creating my account, was immediately rejected. I don’t like that a lot of Subreddits for companies need to prescreen your post, because it’s an easy way to hide criticism and critical information other users need to know about.
When I asked the Subreddit mods why my post got banned, they said that it was rejected by Reddit, not them. I have tried multiple times, the result was the same. Tried reaching out to support and never heard back from them.
It was a terrible idea for Reddit to get rid of email support.
Faced that too in the past months.
Honestly, just use a Frontend.
Will have less crap loaded, just the focused content. Mostly a matter of rewriting the URL.
The one I do like: https://reddit.nerdvpn.de/
You probably don’t need to have write privileges there anyway? If you do, I guess you’ll need to give up some PII at some point if in the EU.
Otherwise, just say no to the platform and boycott it.
For me, reading is enough. Not like the quality from Reddit is always top tier anyway. 
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A little bit of context on Reddit.
I have found out that reddit account are being sold. The price of an account depend on the number of years of existence, the post karma and the comment karma.
My guess is that reddid know that and to prevent people from farming fake reddit accout they detect VPN and ban ‘abuse’. You may have been wrongly detected has an spammer or abuser.
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I am able to use Reddit with VPN and email alias.
Reddit shadowban system is complex, I read a thread on it once with all the actions that might influence your internal scoring when your threshold is being passed for assumed bot activity, which puts the shadowban flag on you. Appealing it is often a waste of time.
My strategy is, use the same country for your VPN for the same account, do not post on big subreddits with a new account, they are more likely to restrict your comment anyway - which leads to your comment not generating any karma. You should start on smaller subreddits.
Do not spam comments. Even two comments in a few hours is almost too much for first days. It needs to be natural.
Under no circumstances delete a comment, even if it has been restricted by a subreddit. Deleting a comment points to bot activity, and makes you shadowflagged almost instantly. You are living on the knifes edge on the first day, doing something a bot would do and there is no mercy from their system.
Posting many media files and pictures ends you shadowbanned fast too.
You basically have to gather karma points on smaller subreddits.
I think due to fingerprinting of hardware identifier (especially if you really use the app), they can tell if you upvote your own accounts, which leads to the banning of both of them - I would advise against excessive use of that method.
I think scammers are abusing karma begging/farming subreddits to give themselves karma points that way, it may be a method to accelerate it for yourself too.
I think Reddit app is a massive bloated spy app. I will not use their app on my smartphone. There are several alternative frontends that can be used without an account, even for accessing age-restricted content.
Every comment and post on Reddit is logged by third party entities nowadays, just within a few seconds. Assume everything you post there will be kept forever, even if you delete it. Your Reddit visibility setting has no effect on that.