What Does 'Ban Wave' Mean?

[ SLANG ][ MACHINE JUDGMENT CULTURE ][ MACHINE CULTURE ]

FORCE: Machine CultureUNIVERSE: Machine Judgment CultureCLUSTER: Anti-Cheat & Bans

A single large-scale batch of account bans a platform issues all at once, typically after a period of accumulating cheating or fraud reports before acting on them together.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

"Ban wave hit overnight, half the leaderboard is just gone this morning."

LORE & ORIGIN

Gaming community vocabulary for the periodic mass-enforcement events platforms run, contrasted with the ongoing, individual bans issued the rest of the time.

FIRST SEEN

2015

PEAK POPULARITY

2026 (Machine Judgment Culture)

CURRENT STATUS

Mainstream Slang

阅读中文版 →日本語版を読む →한국어판 보기 →Leer en español →Ler em português →Lire en français →

EQUIVALENT CONCEPTS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

中文 zh-CN封号潮 →日本語 ja-JPno fixed local term →한국어 ko-KRno fixed local term →Español es-ESno fixed local term →Português pt-BRno fixed local term →Français fr-FRno fixed local term →

AURA IMPACT ⓘ

+2 AURA

TREND STATUS

↑ HIGH RISING FAST · MODERATE

CULTURE CATEGORY

[ SLANG ][ MACHINE JUDGMENT CULTURE ][ MACHINE CULTURE ]

RELATED TERMS

MENTIONS OVER TIME

2023202420252026

TOP PLATFORMS

TikTok

52%

YouTube

20%

Twitter / X

14%

Others

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