Actual trolls should be able to spot this fairly quick as they often have multiple accounts and interact with their alternate personas. I would expect this to mostly silence wrong-think. e.g. anything not aligned with the group/tribe narrative. Another variation of this is echo-chamber [1]. The difference is creating a self contained echo chamber and the person leaving a comment will never see comments from real people.

[1] - https://github.com/tessalt/echo-chamber-js

Reddit lets moderators hide your comments if they don't contribute to the conversation without letting you know. Not exactly a ShadowBan

It's all about the moderator though; over the years I have very little (no interaction) with the admins ever. Doesn't matter if you write to them; you still won't get a response.

Which is why imo Reddit is toxic a.f... Volunteer Moderators

Note: This is a fictional article, obviously. My apologies to NYT. Nonetheless, I consider something like this to be an inevitability.

I would not be surprised if it were already occurring somewhere. Perhaps the title should have informed people this is fiction, but I think that ruins some of the effect

I hope I am not breaking any rules. And if I am, well, you know what to do now, don't you?

This is seriously fucked up. Like just ban or restrict people. Why waste their time?