On Monday, X announced a significant update to its platform, allowing users to be informed when their posts are subjected to “shadowbanning” due to compliance with local laws. This new feature builds upon the existing transparency tool known as “Under the Hood,” which enables users to see if any restrictions or labels have been applied to their accounts or posts that could influence their visibility on the platform.
The enhancement will now make it clear when users’ posts are downranked as a result of mandatory content filtering imposed by governments.
We’ve expanded Under The Hood after seeing people’s appreciation of more transparency into government-required content filtering.
In addition to showing labels applied to your account and posts in the prior month, Under The Hood now shows if your account or posts had their… https://t.co/Op5rBnE1jg pic.twitter.com/ZUrbkO28ay
— X Open Source (@XOpenSource) September 19, 2026
Previously, users had no access to information on how their accounts or posts were being labeled or downranked, leading to widespread accusations of shadowbanning by the platform, formerly known as Twitter.
In contrast to many platforms that report government requests in aggregate through transparency reports, X now offers insights at the individual account and post level. This shift began in August when X introduced its transparency tool, allowing users who have posted at least 10 times in a month to download their aggregate statistics in a JSON file, a standard data format that can be analyzed by AI chatbots for easier understanding.
With this update, users will now be able to view whether their visibility has been restricted due to compliance with local laws. The JSON file will detail which specific posts were withheld in a particular country following legal requests, along with the name of the requesting country.
Governments provide various justifications for these requests, including legislation against hate speech, terrorism-related content, and electoral regulations. However, critics, including free-expression advocates, argue that some nations exploit these laws to suppress political opposition.
This move is part of a broader initiative by X to enhance transparency, which has already included the open-sourcing of its “For You” algorithm that determines the content displayed in users’ feeds, as well as a commitment to make more parts of its codebase open-source. This includes detailed insights into model configuration, filtering, and core ranking system elements, shedding light on the criteria that influence post visibility.
During this open-sourcing announcement, X’s vice president of product, Keith Coleman, remarked that the level of detail being released would likely surprise many users.
