Google allegedly shadow banning users from AI features

Google is allegedly shadow banning some users, thus hindering their access to AI features across its platforms.

An independent Reddit user shared a blog post on 7 January outlining his findings on Google’s restriction of certain users from specific AI features.

He revealed that the company is collecting data other than that provided by users, which it uses to predict the age of a user, thus leading to shadowbans that may not be right.

How it happens

Google allegedly has a way of determining users’ birthdays other than the ones provided. Most times, these estimated birthdays based on user behaviors are wrong, but they lead to barring users from some features they should have access to.

For instance, an AI feature like NotebookLM is restricted to users who are 18 years or older, thus leaving out younger users who may need the essential educational tool.

It is even worse when you may be older than 18 but get shadowbanned based on an inaccurate age prediction.

There are possibly several victims of such shadowbans who are wondering what went wrong and how to fix it but as the company doesn’t share any information on the ban, such users are left in the dark.

How to check for restrictions

If you have noticed certain unexplained restrictions from some of Google’s AI services, you can check to see if you have been shadowbanned.

Proceed to the “Data & Privacy” section in the Google Account manager. Once there, proceed to the “personalized ads” option.

If this feature is unavailable (not deactivated) to you, it means Google has predicted your account to be held by a user under the age of 18.

To fix it, you need to verify your age using a government-issued ID document, or simply create a new Google account and you can access those features again.