X is telling you why your posts are not being seen with its Under the Hood update
X just gave every creator a tool that shows exactly why their posts are being suppressed.
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For years, the shadowban has been one of the most frustrating and least understood experiences in the creator economy on X. Your content feels like it is performing worse than it should. Your reach drops without explanation. You post the same type of content you always have and suddenly it feels like nobody is seeing it. And X gives you nothing. No notification. No explanation. No way to know whether something changed in the algorithm, whether one of your posts was flagged, or whether a government in some country you have never visited decided your content needed to be restricted.
That just changed.
On September 19, 2026, X updated its Under the Hood transparency tool with the most significant expansion since the feature launched. For the first time, creators can now see not just which algorithm labels have been applied to their account and their posts, but also whether any of their content has been suppressed by government-ordered legal restrictions, which country made the request, and which specific posts were affected.
This is a genuinely significant development. And most creators have not yet figured out what to do with it.
What Under the Hood actually is
Under the Hood is a transparency tool X launched in August 2026. It gives creators a downloadable report in JSON format that shows what labels X's algorithm has applied to their account and their posts in the previous month.
Labels are the internal classifications X's systems use to decide how content gets distributed. Some labels flag content as potentially spammy. Some flag it as potentially not safe for work. Some flag it for hateful conduct. When a label is applied to your account or a specific post, it can limit how that content appears in the For You feed, reduce its reach in search results, or restrict it from being recommended to new audiences.
Until Under the Hood existed, these labels were entirely invisible to creators. You could not see whether you had any. You could not know which posts had been flagged or why. You could not distinguish between a genuine drop in performance caused by content quality issues and a suppression caused by an algorithm label that might have been applied incorrectly.
The September 19 update expanded what Under the Hood shows. In addition to algorithm labels, the tool now shows whether any of your posts or your account have been subject to legal visibility restrictions, including which country made the request and which posts were affected. This is the first time X has provided this level of specific, post-level transparency about government-ordered content restrictions to individual users.
To access Under the Hood, your account needs to have been active for more than a year and you need to have posted at least ten times in the last month. If you meet those criteria, you can visit x.com/i/under_the_hood and download your report.
What the report actually shows
The report downloads as a JSON file, which sounds technical but is simpler than it appears. JSON is a text-based format that organizes data into labeled categories. If you open it in any text editor, you will see a structured list of information about your account and your posts from the previous month.
Here is what the report can show you.
If your account is clean, it will show no labels applied and no posts flagged. That is the best possible outcome and means your account is operating without any algorithmic suppression based on the labels X currently tracks.
If labels have been applied to your account, they will appear as specific named labels. The two most common ones that creators have been reporting since the feature launched are NSFW HIGH RECALL and SPAM HIGH RECALL. High recall labels are worth understanding: they mean the system flagged your content as potentially fitting a category even if it is not entirely certain. A SPAM HIGH RECALL label does not necessarily mean X thinks you are a spammer. It means something about your posting behavior triggered the spam detection system with enough confidence to apply a label that affects distribution.
If specific posts have been flagged, they will appear in the report. Frustratingly, the current version of the tool shows you how many posts were flagged and what labels were applied, but does not identify which specific posts received those labels. That limitation is significant for creators trying to understand exactly which piece of content triggered a flag, but it is still more information than was previously available.
The new government restriction data shows whether any country has requested that your content be made less visible in that specific jurisdiction, which country made the request, and which posts were affected by the restriction. This information is shown at the post level, making it more specific and actionable than the account-level label data.
Why this matters specifically for creators
The Under the Hood tool matters for creators for reasons that go beyond simple curiosity about what the algorithm is doing to your content.
The most practical reason is diagnostic. If your reach has dropped unexpectedly and you cannot identify a content quality reason for the drop, Under the Hood gives you the ability to check whether an algorithm label is the cause. A creator who finds a SPAM HIGH RECALL label on their account knows to look at their recent posting behavior for patterns that might have triggered it — high posting frequency, repetitive content formats, rapid-fire replies, and can adjust accordingly.
Without Under the Hood, that creator would be guessing. They might change their content strategy, try different formats, post at different times, all while the underlying label is the actual cause and none of their changes address it. Under the Hood turns an invisible problem into a visible one. Visible problems can be solved.
The government restriction data is significant for a different reason. Many creators, particularly those outside the United States, have experienced unexplained drops in reach in specific markets without any way to understand why. The September 19 update now provides a specific explanation when a government-ordered restriction is the cause. A creator based in France whose content is being restricted in a specific country at the request of that country's government can now see that clearly rather than assuming the drop is their fault.
This is particularly relevant for creators whose content touches on topics that are politically sensitive in some jurisdictions even if they are entirely acceptable in others. News commentary, political opinion, human rights topics, religious discussion, these are all categories where government-ordered restrictions can be applied in some countries without the creator having done anything that would be considered a violation anywhere else. Knowing that a restriction exists and where it comes from is meaningfully different from not knowing.
How to read your JSON report without a technical background
The JSON format is the biggest practical barrier for most creators trying to use Under the Hood. Here is the simplest possible way to get useful information out of your report without needing any technical knowledge.
Download the report. The file will download to your device as a JSON file. Open it in any text editor on your computer, including the basic text editor that comes pre-installed on Windows or Mac.
Once it is open, use the find function in your text editor to search for the word "labels." This will take you directly to the section of the report that shows what labels have been applied to your account. If you see no labels listed, your account is clean. If you see labels listed, note what they are.
Then search for "posts" to find the section showing any flagged posts. Note how many posts were flagged and what labels were applied to them.
Finally, search for "legal" or "government" to find the section showing any government-ordered restrictions. If this section is empty, none of your content has been restricted by government request. If it shows entries, note which country made the request.
If the JSON format still feels overwhelming, X's own suggestion applies here: download the file and paste its contents into Grok. Then ask Grok to summarize what the report shows in plain language. This is one of the most practical uses of an AI tool for a creator managing their X presence and it requires no technical skill at all.
What to do if you find labels on your account
Finding labels on your account is not a reason to panic. It is information. And information is what allows you to make better decisions about how you post.
If you find a SPAM HIGH RECALL label, the most likely causes are posting at a very high frequency, sending large volumes of identical or near-identical replies, following and unfollowing large numbers of accounts rapidly, or using automation tools for posting or engagement. Review your recent posting behavior against those patterns and adjust the ones that apply.
If you find an NSFW HIGH RECALL label, the most likely cause is content that the system flagged as potentially not safe for work even if you did not intend it that way. Review your recent posts for any images, language, or topics that might have triggered the flag. Future posts in similar areas are worth adding a content sensitivity label to proactively, which signals to the algorithm that you are aware of the content's nature.
If you find government restriction data, the most practical response depends on whether the restricting country is a significant part of your intended audience. If it is not, the restriction has limited practical impact on your creator business. If it is, understanding which posts were restricted and why can help you make more informed decisions about how you cover those topics going forward.
In all cases, there is currently no appeal process for algorithm labels through the Under the Hood tool itself. The tool is transparent but not interactive. It shows you what labels exist. It does not provide a mechanism for disputing them. The most effective response to an unwanted label is to adjust the behavior that likely caused it and allow the algorithm's rolling evaluation window to reset your account's label status over time.
What this transparency actually represents
X's Under the Hood tool is part of a broader transparency initiative that the platform has been building throughout 2026. X open-sourced its ranking code on GitHub earlier this year. The original Under the Hood launch in August gave creators access to label data for the first time. The September 19 update added government restriction transparency on top of that.
Taken together, these moves represent something genuinely unusual in the social media landscape. No other major platform currently provides creators with this level of specific, downloadable, post-level data about why their content is being suppressed and by whose request. Instagram does not tell you which of your posts have been algorithmically flagged. TikTok does not tell you whether a government requested content restrictions. LinkedIn does not show you what labels its system has applied to your account.
X's transparency push is not entirely altruistic. It fits a consistent narrative the platform has been building about being the free speech alternative to other social platforms. By showing creators exactly when a government has restricted their content, X shifts the accountability for that restriction from the platform to the government making the request. That is a political positioning decision as much as a creator-friendly feature.
But whatever the motivation, the practical effect for creators is real. Knowing why your content is being suppressed is always better than not knowing. Having a diagnostic tool that makes invisible platform decisions visible is a genuine improvement in the information environment for anyone building a presence on X.
The question worth asking is not whether this transparency is good. It is. The question is whether the information it provides changes what you do. A creator who downloads their Under the Hood report, finds two SPAM HIGH RECALL flagged posts, and adjusts their posting behavior accordingly is using the tool well. A creator who downloads the report, feels briefly anxious about what they find, and then does nothing is getting the information without the benefit.
Download your Under the Hood report today at x.com/i/under_the_hood. If you find labels, treat them as diagnostic information rather than a judgment. If you find government restrictions, treat them as context for understanding reach drops in specific markets. And if you find nothing, treat that as confirmation that your current approach is working and keep doing what you are doing. The tool gives you information. What you do with it is what actually changes your reach.
