Activision Finally Explains How Shadowban Lobbies Work and Dispels Spam Reporting Myths

Shadowbans have been part of Warzone for years, but until now, the process was never fully explained. In 2021, it was believed that shadowbans were issued when an account was associated with suspicious activity. Once banned, these players were placed in exclusive lobbies where they only played against others who had also been flagged. However, many feared they could be placed in these lobbies, full of cheaters, despite not doing anything wrong.

This concern tied into fears about spam reporting, as some hackers claimed they could mass-report innocent players to get them shadowbanned without legitimate cause.

Activision has now stepped in to address these concerns once and for all.

How Do Shadowbans and Spam Reports Actually Work?

The Call of Duty Ricochet team recently revealed their plan to combat cheating in Season 3, including details on how Shadowban lobbies—also known as Limited Matchmaking—operate.

“Limited Matchmaking is a necessary part of the system as an immediate reaction to detecting suspicious activity,” Activision explained. “LMM allows accounts to continue playing matches online in a separate pool from standard matchmaking while our team reviews and collects all necessary evidence for further action—if needed.”

Being placed in Limited Matchmaking doesn’t automatically mean someone is a confirmed cheater. Instead, an alarm is triggered when there’s unusual activity, such as a significant change in account behavior or improbable stats from a brand-new account.

The anti-cheat team reassured players that accounts in Limited Matchmaking make up less than 0.15% of the total player base in Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

Spam Reporting Doesn’t Affect Account Status

In addition, Activision revealed that a Season 2 update streamlined the review process, reducing the time accounts spend in Limited Matchmaking.

Addressing concerns about spam reporting, Activision clarified:
“Whether it’s in-game or if a cheat developer creates a hack to submit 10,000 reports, spam reporting does nothing. Subsequent reports provide no additional information.”

This clarification comes after a hacker claimed in November 2024 that they had exploited an issue in Call of Duty’s RICOCHET anti-cheat system, allegedly leading to the wrongful banning of “thousands upon thousands” of Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone players.

Although some players were skeptical about trusting the development team’s stance on spam reporting, this official explanation finally puts those doubts to rest.