Cancel culture. Shadowbanning.
You named it.
These are just a couple of words you tend to hear in online spaces. Let me tell you that neither are good, or in this case, as they tend to hurt whatever this platform stands for — a fun community where all kinds of stories and people exist.
It has come to my attention that Wattpad is removing all kinds of books that happen to include s*x and violence in them. They also "shadowban" them or make it difficult for others to find them.
You can tell you're being shadowbanned if the rankings (e.g. #fiction, #YA) suddenly disappeared. The worst thing is other users risk loosing their accounts without any prior notice (a.k.a. cancelled). It could happen to anybody if you're not very careful.
I was one of those skeptical folks who thought this was just mere misunderstanding and fake news. I thought maybe they're finally removing stories that are obviously inappropriate and not marked as "Mature."
What they think is shadowbanning could just be "Yo! Your book barely has a hundred reads, right tags and the algorithm hasn't picked up on it yet don't worry!"
One of my books called "The Case of The Samurai" is a gritty sci-fi thriller inspired by real historical events and since I marked it as a mature story, I was safe.
In spite of it being mature, there aren't any explicit language or nudity everywhere. The violent parts are never described in full detail that it becomes too sickening for the readers.
Now, what bugs me is how Wattpad doesn't notify you via e-mail or DMs about any changes in their TOS and whatever rules you happen to break.
If I were the kid who unknowingly did something stupid, it's because I didn't know any better so there should be someone who could help me understand what the issue is.
There are even talks about the platform using AI to monitor books and we all know that AI isn't 100% reliable when it comes to determining whether something is inappropriate or not. There is no nuance!
Now, what are the alternative sites you can take once Wattpad starts burning down? Depending on your needs, you can choose Tumblr (I know it's an old site but I heard it's gotten a lot better now). It's a great place to blog and create fandoms. Even one of my favorite creators, Clown (the creator of Welcome Home), is there!
The others include AO3, Inkitt, Storiaverse and having your own personal site.