Why Instagram accounts are blocked and how to avoid it

Instagram account owners often face unexpected blockings, which can occur even in the absence of obvious violations of the social network’s rules. Understanding the potential causes of such blockages is key to avoiding them. In an era where Instagram continues to grow in popularity, many businesses and individuals are looking to utilize the platform to promote their products and services. 

However, the desire to increase followers and popularity often leads to the use of promotional methods that may conflict with Instagram’s rules. This is especially true for business accounts and professional bloggers, for whom stability and the ability to monetize their content are critical. The unpredictability of the social network’s algorithms and strict moderation policy exacerbates the situation, making it important for users to know the main causes of blocking and understand how to effectively prevent them and restore access to their accounts in case of blocking.

Types of blocking on Instagram

There are 4 types of account lockouts on Instagram:

• Temporary blocking is a signal that you are approaching the borderline of violating the rules of the social network. Such a lockout can suddenly limit your options on Instagram, such as subscribing to other users, liking, commenting on posts, and making reposts. In some cases, temporary blocking also affects your ability to post new content. The duration of the first temporary lockout usually ranges from a few hours to one day. For repeated offenses, the blocking period can increase up to three weeks.
• Permanent blocking: this amounts to deleting your profile from Instagram without the ability to restore it. Usually, such measures are applied after repeated violations of the rules of the social network. The owner and subscribers learn about the blocking by a special notification. However, in some cases, the decision can be reconsidered, and there are ways to try to restore access to the account.
• Accidental blocking – sometimes users face restrictions in their actions, although they did not violate Instagram rules. In these cases, page activity is maintained, but certain features become inaccessible. This may resemble a temporary blocking, but the reason is different – the erroneous action of the social network’s algorithms, which mistakenly identified the account as violating the rules because of similar actions that aroused suspicion.
• Shadowban: For a long time, there has been a fierce debate among users around the shadow ban on Instagram. The lack of official statements about its existence gave rise to many conspiracy theories, especially among owners of actively developing accounts. The mystery of shadow bans stimulated the creation of various hypotheses and attempts to understand the reasons for their application.

Confirmation of the existence of a shadow ban: The controversy about the existence of a shadow ban on Instagram was confirmed when users began to notice their posts disappearing from recommendations and hashtags. This led to massive support requests. Sometime later, after numerous denials and references to technical problems, Instagram management officially recognized the existence of the Shadow Ban as a form of punishment for violations of social network rules, including spam and plagiarism.

Shadow Ban is characterized by the fact that it remains invisible to the user, who may not even be aware of its presence for up to several weeks. You can check for a ban by trying to find your publications through a hashtag search. If publications are not displayed, the account has likely been shadow-banned. To remove such a ban, it is recommended to first contact Instagram support and follow their further instructions.

The main reasons for blocking an Instagram account are

• Problems with the ISP: Sometimes Instagram may temporarily restrict access to the account due to a suspicious IP address. This situation can be quickly remedied by contacting the social network support.
• Mobile device malfunctions: In rare cases, blocking can be triggered by problems with the user’s device, such as system crashes or viruses. In such a case, an OS update or malware removal is recommended.
• Instagram updates: When new algorithms are implemented, some accounts may be temporarily locked due to app malfunctions, but these lockouts are lifted once the update is complete.
• Account Hacking: If account activity seems suspicious, Instagram may temporarily restrict access for security purposes. In such cases, the user will receive an email notification with instructions on how to restore the account.

There are many reasons why an accidental account lockout can occur, but often this situation is resolved automatically, sometimes even without user intervention. In such cases, the functionality of the account is restored and the owner receives an apology from the social network via email.

What other factors can lead to blocking?

Instagram sets several official requirements, non-compliance with which can lead to account blocking. It is forbidden to publish content that does not belong to the user, contains erotic or pornographic elements, incites terrorism, violence, violation of laws, or contains insults to other members of the network. A full list of rules is available in the official documentation.

In addition to the explicit rules, there are informal criteria, the violation of which can also lead to restrictions from the platform. Here are some of these informal rules.

Exceeding the allowed number of likes, comments, subscriptions and unsubscribes

Instagram does not disclose the official limits of actions, but there are approximate limits identified based on user experience:

• For beginners, up to 30 subscriptions/unsubscribes and likes per hour, up to 720 in 24 hours. You can also comment up to 30 times per hour, up to a maximum of 720 per day.
• For accounts older than 6 months – the limit doubles to 60 subscriptions/replies, likes, and comments per hour, up to 1,440 per day.

These numbers are not guaranteed, and Instagram may impose a temporary ban for less activity if it deems it suspicious. Often bans for exceeding limits are related to the use of services to automate likes, subscriptions, and comments.

Using the same posts, hashtags, or comments

Repeated use of the same posts, hashtags, or comments can result in a temporary block. This is often associated with automated services for mass actions on social networks. While these tools may seem convenient for saving time and quickly promoting an account, using them increases the risk of violating Instagram’s rules. Constant use of similar or inadequate hashtags under posts can also cause restrictions from the platform.

Periodic change of IP address

This phenomenon is common with business accounts that use various automated services. These applications and services usually operate with their IP addresses, such as Instaplus, Funinsta, Instagram, and others. While such services are often useful, it is recommended to minimize their use and choose those that combine the functions of several separate services.

Using purchased accounts

Buying an account involves risks. These accounts are usually registered from a limited number of IP addresses, and over time their number becomes suspiciously high, which attracts the attention of Instagram’s algorithms and can lead to them being permanently blocked. This can be especially frustrating if you have already invested a lot of effort in promoting such a page. Therefore, even if they offer to buy an account with a ready-made audience, it is better to refrain from this idea.

Organization of constant drawings with cash prizes, lotteries, and promises of quick earnings

Conducting an excessive number of such activities may be considered by the system as an attempt to manipulate user activity, which is against Instagram rules. You should not completely abandon contests and other ways to stimulate activity, but it is important to be moderate, for example, conduct them about 1-2 times a month.

Receiving complaints about an account

Any Instagram user has the right to file a complaint about your account, and if the complaint is justified and the violation of the rules is confirmed, your account may be blocked. There are many reasons to file a complaint, such as posting erotic content, spamming, racist language or actions, inciting violence, selling illegal goods (such as drugs or weapons), using other users’ content without permission (plagiarism), or copyright infringement, impersonation, and other violations.

Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, your account may be temporarily or permanently blocked. For example, for posting erotic material, you will receive a temporary ban and be asked to remove the content, while for selling illegal goods or inciting violence, your account may be permanently blocked.

What to do if your account is blocked

What to do if you receive a temporary account lockout

If your account is temporarily locked, don’t panic, several steps can help in this situation:

1. Find out the reason why your account is locked by technical support so you understand what action you need to take.
2. If your account is locked because you need to change your password (the system suspects hacking), simply change your password and log into your account again.
3. Check if your account has links to other services and remove them, maybe some of them are on Instagram’s blacklist.
4. Temporarily stop advertising campaigns and limit interaction with your audience to avoid increasing the lockout period.
5. If you’re using Instagram’s mobile app and are having trouble logging in or running the app, update it. 

It can be difficult to lift a temporary lockout because the punishment is already in place, but in some cases, the effort can lead to a positive result. Don’t forget that Instagram warns users with three previous blockings and then a perpetual blocking may follow.

What to do if your account is permanently locked

If you repeatedly violate Instagram rules and ignore temporary or shadow bans, your account may be permanently deleted. With a perpetual lockout, you will see a notification that the account has been deleted with no possibility of recovery.

It is difficult and almost impossible to recover your account when you are locked out like this. Instagram deletes your page completely. Attempting to recover may require a lot of effort and will probably be fruitless. Contacting Facebook tech support is rarely successful, and most often goes unanswered.

Possible actions:

• One method is to ask for account recovery, you may not always be able to do this.
• Try to restore access through the mobile app, following the recommendations of the support team, but success is not guaranteed.
• Make sure to provide all the necessary details about yourself, including contact information and security settings.

It’s important to remember that successful cases of account recovery when permanently locked out are rare, and Instagram usually ignores such requests, except for small exceptions related to advertising.

A bit of information about account recovery

If you have saved photos and videos on your PC or mobile device that have been uploaded to your account, your chances of recovery increase significantly. You will probably be asked to upload these photos and videos from your profile archive as part of the recovery process. If you don’t have photos, it may be difficult to regain access. It is important to note that images will be verified using the EXIF method. If your account contained only extraneous or stock images, restoring access will likely not be possible.

If you have submitted the necessary photos and videos following the recovery instructions but have been rejected by tech support, don’t be discouraged. You can re-contact them or even try contacting them through another profile.

You can also find ads on the interwebs offering help to unlock your account. However, you should be careful as many of them may be scammers that require an upfront payment and offer no guarantees. It is recommended to avoid responding to such ads and try to restore account access yourself.

• If restoring access to your account fails and you decide to create a new account, follow a few important rules:
• Do not create a new account from the same IP address, as it is probably on Instagram’s blacklist.
• Use a different email to register a new account than the one the blocked account was registered to.
• If you plan to restore content from the old account, do not copy it completely, but make some changes.

To summarize

To avoid getting blocked on Instagram, it is important to follow the rules of this social network. Different types of blocking can negatively affect your account and business, and a perpetual ban can lead to the loss of your account and your entire audience.

Sometimes regaining access can be difficult, and technical support is not always responsive. In such cases, you may have to create a new account and start from scratch. Remember, it’s important to use unique content in your new account, including photos, posts, and logins, to avoid being locked out again.