That Disney article you just saw … is an example of shadow-banning

By Jason Williams
Williams is a cultural commentator and founder of the Taxpayers Association of Oregon

That nearby Disney article I wrote “Disney brings prostitutes, profanity, cop killing to kids Star Wars” and posted this morning is an example of a real-time shadow-banning and you should know about it. It is real and it exists.

I know the article is popular because I can see the click rates on this host site, Oregon Catalyst.   On Oregon Catalyst, four new articles were posted this morning and this story ranked #2 in popularity with nearly a hundred clicks in just a few hours of the article being live.   Yet, on “social media” clicks are down, almost non-existent.  Down compared to similar articles on the same site.   Social media clicks follow a predictable pattern.  We see it all year long on Oregon Catalyst.  This article broke the pattern because it is shadow banned.

Maybe it was the word “prostitute” or “cop killing” that triggered the censors.   In times past, words related to the Portland protests were shadow-banned.   How do you explain what is going on in Portland without mentioning who is rioting and what they are doing?  It may be Disney defenders are launching complaints on the “social media” platforms.  Who knows?  Another one of my Disney stories was shadow-banned at the time as well.  It keeps happening!

It is frustrating to see an article that you KNOW people love but you can’t reach people to see it.  It is even more frustrating that Disney can pipe prostitutes/profanity/cop killing messages to 8-year old kids but I am blocked in warning parents about such messages.   Think about that.

This is a good time to remind you that we are NOT dependent on social media for our success.  We produce our own content.  We have 7,000 people who have self-subscribed to our 3x/week email blast.

If you enjoy the OregonCatalyst website, then PLEASE consider signing up for the email blast (on right hand column of this site).   It predictably sends out all our stories 3x a week on schedule.  The more people who sign up the bigger our broadcast reach.

Finally, consider passing on the stories you like to your friends.

It really helps our efforts.