Reddit Account Banned for Seemingly No Reason

[Toz]

I've had a Reddit account for about 4 years, and I've posted a bit here and there for the 1st year and some recently in this last year. Mostly, it was in all sort of different subreddits pertaining to games I like and things not about marketing or anything of that sort.

Anyway, I did some research and learned that Reddit doesn't mind if you have a secondary account, and since, in my free time, I'm building what I believe to be the next paradigm in AI, I figured I'd create an account that was centered around that. The name has "AI" in it, and so I'm thinking this is what set me up for failure. I registered an account that has the name of the business, underscore "ai". Let's say it's Google AI, so my Reddit name was the equivalent of Google_ai.

Next, I figured I should have my own subreddit, kind of like a journey thread of sorts, where I can encourage other members to join in, ask questions, hopefully check out what I'm creating, etc. When you create your own Reddit community, there's a kind of notification that says you should make 3 posts. I made 1 post, and while thinking of things to say for the other two, I started browsing. I commented on a couple posts, but none were mentioning my creation or anything of the sort. I made two of these comments and then noticed something.

My profile picture had been removed. I thought that maybe it was a glitch, so I reuploaded it, and then it disappeared again. I visited my profile page, and I noticed my profile description was removed. I thought about the community I'd created and when I clicked on it in my left sidebar, there was a notification saying my community had been banned. I later learned that my account is also banned. I submitted an appeal that same night (1 week ago from today). I've heard nothing back and I think about it probably way more than I should. I'm still banned. I don't know what to do.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

 

[JB2302]

You might know already; the spam filter triggered because of "AI."

Another reason is
Promotional usernames/business name accounts usually get banned on Reddit.
as most scammers use similar names.
Even posting comments with a business-looking name gets reported, as it counts as promotion.

Since you did not do anything against Reddit, you should be able to get the account back with Reddit support. All the best.
But most likely it will be banned again.

 

[Profit Monkey]

Most likely your username yup!

 

[RankMancer]

Yeah Reddits auto mod admin team are brutal lately New accounts with brand style names or subreddits get flagged fast Sometimes no warning no reason just boom gone

 

[Venusaur]

My doubt: have they deleted all your posts? Or are they still readable and publicly available?

 

[shijin]

New subs with brand names are almost always under heavy scrutiny.

 

[ZenWolf]

That sounds really frustrating hopefully, Reddit’s support gets back to you soon and clears things up!

 

[ZenWolf]

Yeah, Reddit can nuke accounts instantly if their system flags them as brand/marketing related, even with no self-promo yet. Name with “ai” plus creating a sub right away probably tripped the spam filter. Appeals take forever and most times they just ignore. If you really wanna keep posting, safest is fresh account, normal username, slow warm-up before doing anything that looks like promotion.
Exactly, Reddit’s filters are super sensitive building trust gradually with a clean account is the best way to avoid those automatic bans.

 

[Toz]

You might know already; the spam filter triggered because of "AI."

Another reason is
Promotional usernames/business name accounts usually get banned on Reddit.
as most scammers use similar names.
Even posting comments with a business-looking name gets reported, as it counts as promotion.

Since you did not do anything against Reddit, you should be able to get the account back with Reddit support. All the best.
But most likely it will be banned again.

Yes, this is what I was thinking as well. It sucks and I have no clue about what the outcome might look like. The crazy part is I see people advertising their businesses all day, every day on that platform and nobody bats an eye when done in the "right" subreddits. I do hope I can get it back and if it gets banned again.. idk. I haven't thought that far ahead. I may create a new account and take it slowly. I just don't want to be seen as a ban-evader, as that's not my ambition. At the same time, I would like to start getting traction and feedback. So far, all my ideas are my ideas. I want input from others so that I can include ideas that are not mine, to make it even better.

Most likely your username yup!

Agreed.

Yeah Reddits auto mod admin team are brutal lately New accounts with brand style names or subreddits get flagged fast Sometimes no warning no reason just boom gone

Agreed. It's beyond brutal. I get why they feel they need to do this, but they should be able to differentiate between some scammer and an actual person trying to build something. I guess they can look like one in the same, but still. It sucks when you're trying to go about it the right way.

My doubt: have they deleted all your posts? Or are they still readable and publicly available?

For my posts in the subreddit, the entire subreddit is gone. As for my personal posts, they are still there, but only I can see them. It's a shadow-ban.

New subs with brand names are almost always under heavy scrutiny.

That sounds really frustrating hopefully, Reddit’s support gets back to you soon and clears things up!

Frustrating, indeed. So far, it's been a week and a day. I hope they get back to me soon, too.

Yeah, Reddit can nuke accounts instantly if their system flags them as brand/marketing related, even with no self-promo yet. Name with “ai” plus creating a sub right away probably tripped the spam filter. Appeals take forever and most times they just ignore. If you really wanna keep posting, safest is fresh account, normal username, slow warm-up before doing anything that looks like promotion.

Exactly, Reddit’s filters are super sensitive building trust gradually with a clean account is the best way to avoid those automatic bans.

Yeah. It just sucks when actually trying my hardest to build something real. I still have work to do on what I'm building, but it would have been nice to start generating some buzz before I'm ready to officially launch.

 

[Marin Valencia]

Yeah, Reddit’s automated filters have been way more aggressive lately. Brand-style usernames + new sub creation is almost a guaranteed red flag. Best bet is to go with a neutral username, post casually for a while, then slowly introduce your project once you’ve built trust.

 

[williamsharris143]

This is really frustrating with Reddit that we don't get to know the exact reason of why the account was banned.

 

[sonami]

Sounds like Reddit’s automated spam detection at work. New accs with business like names (especially contain AI) combined with creating a subreddit and posting right away can trigger their anti spam filters even without obvious self promo.

 

[Toz]

Yeah, Reddit’s automated filters have been way more aggressive lately. Brand-style usernames + new sub creation is almost a guaranteed red flag. Best bet is to go with a neutral username, post casually for a while, then slowly introduce your project once you’ve built trust.

This is precisely what I have done! Under a new Chrome profile, I have created a non-branded Reddit account. I'm not even going to post casually yet. Right now, just browsing. Soon, I'll throw in some upvotes, here and there. Later, some comments. Going to take it really slow.

This is really frustrating with Reddit that we don't get to know the exact reason of why the account was banned.

Yes, I wish they'd just come out and tell me what I did "wrong". The mystery behind it is the hardest part. It's quite frustrating.

Sounds like Reddit’s automated spam detection at work. New accs with business like names (especially contain AI) combined with creating a subreddit and posting right away can trigger their anti spam filters even without obvious self promo.

Yeah. I get why they'd want to implement something like that. I just wish they had some kind of mechanism in place that could truly try to deduce intent.

 

[Toz]

I heard that Reddit rules are very strict, but I wonder if this is the case.

Idk. I feel that it's best to just take things slowly, so that's what I've been doing with my new account. I have only browsed the last couple days. No upvoting, no commenting, no posting, etc. I've only joined one subreddit so far, but I really just want to warm up my account properly at this point. I think "strict" is an understatement. I know it's tough to prove intent, but it seems they are not even making the effort to try.