UPDATE 4/17: My Shadowban Has Been Lifted!
Since this article has been getting a lot of traction, I figure I should post an update on my shadowban situation. Last Thursday or Friday, my shadowban was finally removed after about three weeks. I had a hunch it was removed, as my latest post was getting a “normal” amount of engagement again, and then it was confirmed by one of the Insta-friends I’ve made thanks to this whole ordeal.
How did I fix it? To be honest, it was accidental. I was pretty fed up with Instagram and so I didn’t post any new pictures for eight days. I liked and commented and stalked Chrissy Teigen as usual, but I didn’t share any new content. And just like that, my ban was lifted. If you’re still fighting a shadowban, I would suggest taking a week-long hiatus. It worked for me!
Last week was a tough one for me, and one of the biggest reasons was I discovered I’ve been shadowbanned on Instagram. It’s a not-so-widely-discussed problem, mostly because the specifics of shadowbans are somewhat unclear, and it was super frustrating trying to figure out what was going on with my account and what I could do about it.
If you’re curious about what a shadowban is, why it happens, and what you can do about it, here’s my experience and everything I’ve learned so far.
What’s a Shadowban?
I call it a shadowban, but other people refer to these social media bans as stealth bans or ghost bans. As you might gather from those terms, this type of ban, which exists on Instagram, Twitter, Reddit and other sites, is implemented without notice.
Normally, if you get banned from Instagram, it tells you that your account has been reported (or whatever) and you can reinstate it in a week or so. With a shadowban, you won’t receive any heads up. It’s essentially a way to limit someone’s use of the site without the user knowing. As you might suspect, shadowbans, in theory, are designed to suppress spam accounts or users who violate the site’s rules.
How Do You Know If You’ve Been Shadowbanned?
OK, so if you’re not notified of the ban, how do you know one has been placed on your account? On Instagram, you’ll likely notice a stark decline in engagement, especially if you’re an avid user of hashtags. Personally, I knew something was wrong when my average likes per post dropped from around 110 down to 20. Further, most of the likes I was receiving were from users who already followed me.
If you recognize a pattern like this, you’ll want to use a “cheat” to check if you’ve been shadowbanned. To understand how to check for a shadowban, it’s important to know exactly what the ban does to your account. In simplest terms, hashtags won’t work as intended when you’re shadowbanned. You can post and hashtag all you want, but only your followers will be able to see your pictures via those hashtags. Users who aren’t following you will not see your posts on hashtag aggregation pages.
To check for a shadowban, you need a separate Instagram account or the help of a friend.
To check for a shadowban, you need a separate Instagram account or the help of a friend. Post a new picture, complete with hashtags, on your normal account, then switch over to the second account. Make sure you’ve unfollowed your original IG, then click on one of the hashtags you’ve used. Your post should show up in the “Most Recent” section of the hashtag aggregation page. If it doesn’t, you’ve been shadowbanned, my friend. Welcome to the club.
The key here is to check with an account that doesn’t follow you. If you check with your own account or an account that follows you, your post will show up as normal. Again, the site wants you to think everything is fine, even though it’s not.
Why Did I Get Shadowbanned?
Your next logical question is probably something along the lines of, “WTF?! I’m not a spammer, so why is this happening?” Same. I was able to piece together why this happened to me, and to be honest, it was partially my fault.
Earlier in the week, someone overseas tried to hack my account. The site asked if it was me trying to get in, and I clicked no. As a security precaution, Instagram then asked me to input a verification code sent to my email address… except it was an old email that I no longer have access to. To get around it, I rebooted the app, and when it asked me the same question again, I said it was me trying to log in from overseas. I proceeded to change my password and update my email address, thinking everything would be fine.
My own actions looked like a hacker taking over my account, and Instagram’s algorithms took note.
In retrospect, this behavior could very well have been a hacker taking over my account and changing the credentials. Instagram’s lovely spam-fighting algorithms took note and slapped a shadowban on my account, just in case I decided to start posting penis pictures.
While this is speculation—again, they don’t tell you anything, including why—it makes sense. Hacking is a common reason accounts are blocked, but there are plenty of other “spammy” actions that can result in a shadowban. I’ve read that people get banned for having too many IG accounts, going on mass-liking sprees, using too many hashtags, and more.
What Can You Do About a Shadowban?
In an ideal world, this would all be resolved by me contacting Instagram’s customer support. I would explain the situation, they would find some way to verify my identity, and my ban would be lifted. We would then live happily ever after.
Oh wait, Instagram doesn’t have customer support. Seriously. You can report issues through the app, but 9 times out of 10, your request will go unanswered. There is no phone number to call and no email address to write. Delightful, right?
This makes it much, much harder to cope with a shadowban. Through my research, I’ve found a few strategies you can try, though none guarantee success:
- Report Your Account as Hacked: Apparently, Instagram might respond to your in-app message if you claim you’ve been hacked. You can then prove your identity to them, and sometimes this will make your account go back to normal.
- Create a New Account: Depending on your follower count, you might be best off just starting from scratch with a new account. I actually tried this, though, and the new account was immediately shadowbanned, presumably because it was linked to my original account.
- Take a Break: Some people have reported their bans were lifted after they went on IG sabbatical for a week or more. No posting, no liking, no nothing. Again, no promises, though.
- Just Act Normal: Still other people claim that if you act normal, aka post normally and use the same hashtag strategy, the IG algorithms will figure out you’re not a spammer and remove your ban. No consensus on how long it might take, though.
UPDATE: Don’t stress! There are ways to increase your engagement even when you’re under a shadowban. Check out my latest article: Instagram Shadowbans: 4 Ways to Gain Followers While You Wait It Out.
My Final Thoughts on Shadowbans
This experience has been incredibly frustrating for me, and unfortunately, I still am no closer to a resolution. As an entrepreneur, I use my Instagram to connect with like-minded creatives, promote my work and find new business. My ability to do this is severely limited with a shadowban in place, and frankly, that sucks. I like Instagram! It’s fun, and I actually just created a new posting strategy that I was really excited about. Now, not so much.
On one hand, I understand why these types of bans exist and how they are, in fact, designed for the good of all users. However, I think it’s ridiculous that there is no customer support to contact when a real, genuine user mistakenly gets banned. It seems like a gross oversight, in my opinion, but it just goes to show that gargantuan social sites don’t particularly care about their individual users.
75 responses to “I Got Shadowbanned From Instagram: Here’s Why and How I Fixed It”
OH MY GOSH. Yes, the EXACT thing is what I’ve been dealing with since last Thursday, March 23. I got a notification someone was trying to log in overseas last Monday, March 20 and changed my password but never said I logged in overseas. I’m launching a new business and this is essentially F-ing me. 🙁 One question, I have a 2nd account, and it has a different email address, but the same phone number. Will that trigger the same shadowban?
Hey Beth, so sorry this happened to you too! I’ve read a lot of people that have a similar experience with an attempted overseas hack in the last week or so. You’d think the company would realize the pattern!
From everything I’ve read, your second account shouldn’t be effected, but you might want to check it just in case. As a precaution, I would probably “unlink” them on your phone (if you have them linked to toggle back and forth quickly).
Let me know if you have any updates! Us small biz ladies have to stick together!
I have been banned on my live I think I don’t know I got no notification saying I was banned or anything but it won’t let me go live so I’m really sick of it I had 46.3k followers but since the ban on i went down 1.3k and I have no clue how to fix it it’s been almost 2 weeks since the ban:/
I have been shadow banned a few days ago ,I assume, from editing a post 3 timea in a row. It sucks. I think my ig in general is bugged as I can’t even remove or edit the picture that got me banned (I can do it on all my other posts). Instagram doesn’t get back to you. I guess all one can do is wait. I’ve red success stories after people temporarily disable their accounts for a week or so. I have not tried it yet. I’m just doing the act normal thing and I bug ig “support” every so often. It’s been 5 days now.
Hey Yen, that’s interesting that you can’t remove the image that triggered the ban. Perhaps you can report that to IG as some sort of bug?
I’m also trying to “act normal” too. I recently found an article (link below) that makes me think posting like normal and/or sending lots of messages to support may be the best route. Let me know if that ends up working for you.
Some further reading:
http://prestigeonlinewritingservices.blogspot.com/2017/03/instagram-shadowbanned-follow-these-tips.html
I’ve been shadow banned for 3 months now. Been googling for solution and none of them works. Reporting account was hacked doesn’t work. Instagram took a week to “settle” the issue. I even logged out of the account for 2 weeks and it doesn’t reset anything. I’m now acting normal and it doesn’t work too. Everyday I lodge several reports hoping one day Instagram would read it.
So sorry to hear that, Abby! 🙁 Hopefully they answer you soon!
Have been experiencing shadow ban for a few months. Being a designer, I’ve been posting my creative content at my private account. Then I noticed decreasing of likes and views even from my followers. Turned out, my posts were rarely shown in their feed, hashtags didn’t work at all. At the end, on 22 of March I’ve been logged out of my account, and since then I have no access to it. Sms verification code never comes, but what is more strange is the fact that launching screen is from the old “blue” instagram. No assistance from them. Started a new account to check hashtags visibility: the issue does still exist. Won’t be back to instagram, it’s just too frustrating to start from scratch…
I’ve been banned for over 2 weeks now.. or more, I’m not entirely sure.
It’s incredibly frustrating as I’ve put in so much time and effort into my account, which I’ve had since.. 2010!!
Still no resolution in sight. Honestly I really don’t know what to do.
Right there with you, Yishyene. I am still experiencing this problem, despite trying all the “fixes” people suggest.
From what I’ve read, there was a spike in bans over the last few weeks for whatever reason. Instagram actually addressed the problem here (https://www.facebook.com/instagramforbusiness/posts/1046447858817451), but their response was basically to stop relying on hashtags so much. So frustrating!
Your account looks awesome, though! You’ve got a new follower in me 🙂
Interesting read, i have noticed in the past weeks my likes drop substantially so checked your theory and u r correct. I had at one stage changed from a personal account to a business account and noticed the drop thrn, so i changed back to personal but no improvement. Have no idea when it happened exactly.
[…] I got shadowbanned from instahram: here’s what I’m going to do […]
Hello,
Thank you so much for sharing this article! I was shadowbanned too and now tried less hashtags. I am a blogger with over 40k followers and this has been so frustrating, especially because I haven’t done anything wrong. The worst part is that I am sure that my shadow ban started after I was taking a break for personal reasons from IG… so it is literally the opposite of what it should do!!
Thanks a lot for sharing your insight with us!
Hanna
I was shadowbanned for about a month. I stopped using hashtags and then the ban was lifted yesterday. Yesterday and today I used the hashtags again to increase my traffic back up to my old numbers, and I was banned again! I never use bots, and I’m quite annoyed. I wonder if this second ban will be lifted, or if it will be permanent.
Well that sucks! I’ve read that certain “spammy” hashtags can trigger the ban (things like #like4like or #picoftheday), so you might want to go through the ones you use and root out any suspect ones. Also, some people seem to think that using the same hashtags every time can trigger a shadowban, so I try to switch mine up with every post. Fingers crossed that you can beat the ban again!
Hi,
We’re a company and we think our account might have been shadow banned. Do you think post promotion may help remove the ban?
I’m really not sure! I haven’t read of anyone trying it — but I guess it’s worth a shot! Even if it doesn’t work, you’ll at least be able to increase your engagement. Good luck, and let us know if you try it!
Hi Camryn, yes, I’ve been and the only thing I did get shadow-banned, not sure when, nor why, but it’s been a while I noticed something was wrong. I did create an account a new account and checked and I was banned. Then I turned by business account into personal account and apparently there is no ban anymore. I actually created a blog just now to post the details, screen shots, etc… IT SUCKS. http://celsodinizphoto.com/blog/
Do you have an idea if the shadow ban is harder if youve been doing a lot of hashtags for a long period of time? Or does length of spammy activity not matter when you take a week (or more) long break from insta
Hey Kristopher, I don’t think that would impact it. I had been using lots of hashtags (usually 30 per post) for a year plus before I was banned, and I’ve been using them since!
I am currently shadowbanned and hoping it will be lifted soon! But I am curious if you know what to expect after the ban is lifted? Do old posts show up again with the hashtags that were used in them or only new posts?
Hi Laura, when my ban was finally lifted, I didn’t get any new engagement with the pictures I posted during the ban.
My thought that even if these old posts do show up on hashtag pages, they probably show up in chronological order—in other words, they’ll be sorted far down the page with other posts shared on that date—as opposed to at the top like new posts. Does that make sense? Basically, I wouldn’t expect old posts to perform well. You can always delete and repost, though!
I have been shadow banned twice by Instagram for 02 different accounts of mine. Reason – Unknown. How to get it Ban lifted – Unknown. Whom to contact – Unknown. I feed highly depressed and victimised by this. My hastags don’t showup and in hashtag pool and my followers are leaving me because my newer posts are getting 1/10th likes now. I am desperate and depressed both at once. Don’t know what to do.
Both the times one strange thing happened which is common to both the Bans.My both accounts were having verified phone numbers. However just before banning me, both the time Instagram asked me to ‘verify my phone number through OTP’ again and as soon as I entered correct OTP sent on my phone I got banned. This is frustrating to say the least. 🙁 🙁 🙁
This is exactly what happened to me too! (asking for phone number verification) I have been banned for only 2 days so far but it’s really stressing me out!!
I thought my account was shadowbanned but it’s okay, I’m getting same amount of likes I usually get. Is this is actually offical Instagram thing?
oh my goodness. That is exactly what is happening to me. My engagement has plummeted. I now get only 1/3 of the usual likes before. And as a matter of fact, I could barely get that 1/3 of likes. 😔 It’s so frustrating because as a blogger, the sponsors would see the engagement drop and think I’m not effective anymore. I don’t know how to fix it. 😭 Thanks for posting this. It made me feel not alone.
Isn’t it just horrible?! Don’t despair though, really! I would recommend to just stop posting for a week. You’ll probably lose some followers, but you’ll get new ones once the ban is lifted and hashtags work again. Stay positive! 💞
Hello, camryn. I got some issues like all of you. I trying to stop posting for a month, but still- I got hardly to upload any videos. Is there any solutions to get remove from this shadow-banned? I really need help. I don’t want to lose my account esp my followers :'(
Hey! If you’ve tried not posting for a week+ and aren’t seeing results, I would recommend checking your hashtags to make sure none are spammy and retriggering the ban. Further, you might reach out to IG support (just don’t expect a response). I’ve read that some people got their bans lifted by repeatedly reporting the problem every day until it was fixed. Good luck!
Hi thx for writing such an informative article. Been shadowbanned for a little trying everything I just signed out for 90 hours . Last post I did which had bad engagement since it’s shadowbanned was Sunday should I wait to try posting again Sunday since that will be a week ? Any other recommendations to get rid of ban ? It’s so annoying I just started my beauty blog a month ago and I didn’t no about these rules that could get u banned . I never touched a bot or anything and I don’t do follow unfollow . It was probably me changing captions but that’s to fix things ! Soooo annoying
Hi April! I’m so sorry you’re going through this! It can be really hard to figure out the ropes of Instagram when you’re first getting started—it’s not like they’re written down anywhere.
Editing your posts too much can get you banned from what I’ve read, but it’s not a “big” offense, so you’ll definitely be able to get your ban lifted. I would recommend not posting new pictures for at least 7 days. So yes, if you noticed the ban on Sunday, wait until the next Sunday or even Monday to post again. You can still like/comment/follow other people during this time, so at least that may help you keep your engagement up. In my experience, this works to lift the ban. Good luck!
Hi, the odd thing these are hashtags like #coffee #makeup but I don’t know whether my account has been labelled as spam or not. I will read your article and see what to do as I was literally only try to grow my account! 🙁
I think I have been shadow banned but I had same kind of thing where it was ” no posts” in hashtag format but it was saying there was like 3,000000. So I deleted my hashtags and the ban was lifted. However with this I can’t find myself in midst on hashtags. So I’m really confused? App seems bugging too, as I can’t review it , use help centre and my following changes from 958 to 956 but shows up on my second account.
Any thoughts? Your article is helpful.
Hey Ciara! I’m not 100% sure what you’re saying, but it sounds like you’re using a banned hashtag. If no posts show up on the hashtag page, it’s usually because people are posting pornography or something bad using that tag, and as a result, the whole hashtag gets blocked. You should avoid these hashtags at all costs, as using them too often may get your account labeled as spam.
You should check out my post on how to use hashtags more effectively—using hashtags with 3 million+ posts isn’t going to get you much engagement anyway! Link is here: https://camrynrabideau.com/2016/02/26/2-major-hashtag-mistakes-made-by-social-media-novices/
And yes, Instagram can definitely be buggy sometimes. Nothing really to be done about that. Hope this helps!
I forgot to say other pictures are appearing in these hashtags I just can’t find my own and I am getting low engagement. I haven’t got any notification or email from Instagram about any type of ban. So perhaps it’s a bug or something? I decided to have week break to see if it helps
From what you’ve said, it actually doesn’t sound like you’re banned. If you were shadowbanned, you would still be able to see your posts on hashtag pages. Keep in mind that hashtags like #coffee gets hundreds of posts an hour, so even if you immediately look at the hashtag page, you may have to scroll a bit to find your picture.
However, if you are shadowbanned, you will not receive any email or notification from Instagram. That’s why it’s called a “shadow” ban 🙂
Hmm but my engagement went down. I usually get like 30-100 likes in 1 hour but my recent post was getting 5 likes in 5 hours. Is it just because no one is likes my picture or Instagram bugging out? I use 30 hashtags so I’m not doing anything against the guide lines. So I’m confused
Hello Camryn, thx for sharing this article.
I was shadow-banned too and it was indeed very frustrating, because in my opinion, I did not do anything wrong or against the rules.
WAS, because my ban has been lifted very quick !
What did I do ?
In the IG app, I reported (via feedback) I no longer could find my own pictures by #hashtag and mentioned I was just a simple user and was afraid I was shadow-banned or ghost-banned for some reason. (I deliberately used these words). That was on Saturday.
Today (Monday) I gave it a try again and did a new search… and to my own surprise my ban was lifted !
btw, no need to repost, because my photo’s all appear in the chronical timeline of the hashtag.
So glad I have seen this article to be aware I was not alone and to guide me to a solution.
Good luck to all who is affected by this, and keep in mind: there is a fix !
Bart
B_Declerck (IG)
Hey Bart! Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad to hear that they took action on your complaint! Maybe that will work for other readers as well.
I figure I’ve been shadow banned due to only followers liking my posts for a few days now. Also when clicking on my hashtags they aren’t appearing in recents. But I have still gained a few followers. Is that common with shadow ban? I didn’t recall you mentioning that.
Hi! Yes, you can totally still gain followers while shadowbanned. I’m pretty sure your pre-ban posts will still show up on hashtag pages, so people can find you that way. Plus there are several other ways people can find you without using hashtags. Hope this helps!
I had my account hacked just over a week ago now, i tried to open another account to have it hacked two more times. Then my original account started posting porn with pictures of my kids on the hacked account. Instagram did nothing until i threatened legal action then original account removed. BUT now i have had to start all over again with a brand new account getting new followers to be shadow banned with my new account. This is so frustrating and ridiculous. how do i get around this its my business. Instagram have a lot to answer too with what has happened to me lately.
Hi Cat, hacking is not the same as a shadowban, so this article may not be helpful to you. Unfortunately, there’s no quick and easy way to regain the followers on your original account, and any attempt to “cheat” the system will probably land you with a shadowban. Sorry for your IG troubles!
Hi Camryn, that is the thing i am shadow banned now as well. Not only was i hacked more than twice. Started up a new account and now for some un known reason i am shadow banned with this new account that is not even a week old. I dont know if it is because i signed u wit the same email address as my hacked account or what. But i am shadow banned. Sorry i wasnt clear on my original reply. But yes i am shadow banned as well.
Ah, I see what you’re saying. Shadowbans can definitely extend to your other accounts if they’re linked in some way. When I was first shadowbanned, I tried starting a new account, and that one was automatically banned too. I’m not sure if bans extend to all accounts linked via the app or all the accounts on your IP address, but I did manage to create a new account WITHOUT a shadowban by creating a new IG handle with a different email while on a different WiFi network than the one I normally use.
If that sounds to complicated (it definitely is), I would suggest not posting for a week and seeing if the ban is lifted. Good luck!
Hi there! Recently my Instagram engagement went down DRAMATICALLY. I used to get 200-300 likes per post, and now I can barely break 80. (it’s only been as of this last week). I’ve checked hashtags on recent posts on accounts that don’t follow me, and they appear there! Does shadow banning happen in different forms? I definitely uised the same hashtags for a long period of time on a business account, but I do not understand why I am all of a sudden having problems.
Hey Sabrina, sorry on my delayed response!
It definitely sounds like you’re shadowbanned, but if you did the test and can see your posts on hashtag pages, I’m not sure what’s going on. It’s definitely possible that there’s some newfangled type of shadowban, as Instagram is always changing and updating.
I would recommend trying the method I mentioned above—not posting for a week—to see if that helps. Sorry I can’t provide more guidance!
I am shadowbanned for two and half weeks.I also didn’t login for 5 days but still now I am shadowbanned.I have reported it to instagram community bu didn’t get any answers or actions and now I’m not seeing any way to get out from the ban.I have 800 over followers so I can’t open a new account.I am totally depressed.PLEASE TELL ME A WAY
Hi Ritwik, If you read the post, you would see I recommend not posting any new images for a full week. This method has worked for me twice when I was shadowbanned. You should also try to figure out what bad behavior got you banned in the first place and stop using those practices.
the only way i finally got off the shadowban was to constantly report to instagram from the settings on my phone upto 3 times a day. I would leave a complaint saying that “for some reason my instagram isnt working people arent seeing my posts and i need my account for my business” after about 5-6 days of constant reporting and complaining i had mine lifted i found this was THE only way of having it lifted. I tried every other way left my account for nearly 2 weeks. Didnt work i also found i dont use the #love anymore
Thanks for this informative post! This is my second time I’ve been banned as well. Started an IG account for my new travel blog, everything was working fine with lots of likes and new followers but I decided to change the e-mail address I signed up for, which resulted in IG deleting the 9 posts I had put up. I freaked out (worst decision of my life ever) and contacted IG to bring back my deleted posts but obviously no answer from them. Impatient me started a new account with new name, but this time I was shadowbanned right away just like you 🙁 reported this to IG but again radio silence, so I took a break for 2 weeks and still the ban is there. I’ve been submitting a bug report everyday with screenshots informing them that it’s for my new travel blog and leave my travel blog e-mail account but nothing. I’ve decided to try something new and report that my account was hacked as per your advice so fingers crossed that they’d do something about it. But it’s so frustrating and definitely something that they should look into further!
I’ve been banned for several months. I finally got it lifted for a few posts and then it happened again. My largest following is on IG so losing my engagement is killing me. I’ve tried so many things. Beyond upsetting. Thanks for this post.
I’m so sorry to hear that! It really is beyond frustrating. I’m sure you’ve done it already, but the best I can recommend is checking all the hashtags you use to make sure none of them are banned, as this seems to be a common trigger for shadowbans. Good luck, and let me know if I can help in any way!
Thanks for this article. 2 weeks ago my old account got diabled due to copyright music. And now on my new account I am banned. I can’t grow like this. I am just a girl who loves make up and thats it. I have tried everything, but nothing seems to help. So sad..
You mentioned that you created a new posting strategy. Can you share what that is?
Thanks for sharing this information. I finally figured out today that I have been banned. Not sure how long I’m been rendered useless? I sell adult product which is extremely hard to market on Instagram. Guess based on your information I will be going on vacation. Again, thanks for breaking it down.
They can’t have a customer support contact. With hundreds of millions of users worldwide they would never be able to cope or keep up. SO they don’t do it.
I would be willing to accept this argument if Facebook didn’t have a customer support system either—but it does.
Good point! Just passing on what I discovered when I searched for this information online a while back. It wasn’t from Instagram as they tend not to communicate about the mechanics of how the app works but many other sites all listed this as the reason why. Apparently there’s over 700m accounts!
Anyway, I found this site looking for answers on a possible ban or account restriction question. About 6 months ago my engagement just dropped off a cliff almost to nothing from something fairly healthy. I first noticed my daily growth looking at Socialblade stats had dropped from 80-200 a day to around 10-20 a day on average. This happened fairly quickly and I am at a loss to know why. I was just doing exactly what I had always done, mostly 1 post a day. Nothing dodgy, no third party app or bot activity.
I then realised my posts had stopped appearing in the top posts section for hashtags, almost everything I posted prior to this was hitting it and then suddenly they weren’t. I now realise that appearing regularly in the top posts section was the main driver in my growth. I have not had one go in on any tag in the last 6 months now, hence the massive drop in growth and engagement. I’ve had it confirmed that I have not been shadow banned but I wonder if they can place other restrictions like banning you from the top posts thing?
Any ideas on how I can reverse this, I have always considered my posting as fairly on point regarding best practice and following the rules, but maybe I slipped up without knowing it.
Hi! Thank you for sharing your experience! I have a different problem that maybe it’s a new way of shadowban? I have 2 accounts (private and travel blog account) and I can’t post stories on my blog account (I do on my private one). But, my sister from her cell is able to post on my behalf. Do you know how to solve it?
hi! This is a slightly different issue but still similar, recently when I post a photo it has a delay in appearing on the hashtags I’ve used. I’ll tap on a hashtag and my photo isn’t there, I refresh it and it takes about a minute for it to appear. This is effecting my engagement as I’ve noticed my likes have been down a bit. I can’t figure out why it’s happening, maybes some form of a shadowban? I’ve actually had a lot of issues with instagram and haven’t even been using it for a year yet! I thought maybes it was because I tag my location, tag 20 accounts and use all 30 hashtags. I decided to not tag my location and only tag 15 accounts and use 30 hashtags but it still won’t work. It’s strange because just the other day one of my photos worked with the 30 hashtags and 16 accounts tagged on it, I’m not sure what to do. This also happens when I upload multiple photos in one post, it won’t work unless I don’t tag any accounts, it just keeps saying “failed to upload” otherwise, it doesn’t matter if I’m uploading with wifi or mobile data. I haven’t updated my iphone to IOS11 yet, could that be effecting it?
It could definitely be a shadowban! Have you tried searching for your pictures from an unconnected account?
No I haven’t but I’m still getting quite a few likes from people who aren’t following me, so I thought my photos must be visible on at least some of the hashtags I’m using? I’ll try logging into my brother’s account and unfollowing myself, then looking on the hashtags I’ve used to see if my photo is there.
Right I unfollowed myself on my brother’s account, tapped on one of the hashtags I used and scrolled down to find my photo, it was there so hopefully it isn’t a shadowban. I guess I’ll just have to keep uploading and trying different ways like not tagging as many accounts, or using different hashtags/ not as many, hopefully it’ll work and I’ll figure out why. I also hope your shadowban is lifted if it hasn’t been already!
I had an alternate account that got banned, and now I can’t access my actual account on the app. But in safari it works just fine. It’s been two months and this has not been fixed. From what I can tell if you get an account banned, it makes it so your device can’t log into the Instagram app at all.
Ditto. I am pretty sure I’m on that list. Sad thing is I just started a brand new business and really enjoyed posting great photos on my services and engaging.
I’ve sent feedback and reported the issues with zero response. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve spent researching exactly what this is all about and next steps.
Finally I just deactivated.
I just got shadow banned right after I put a post up with 10 posts where I went to a beach event and posted it. As soon as that post went up, I can’t even delete the offending post. It doesn’t show up
Shadowbanning is a bit like shunning and is fundamentally antisocial. If a business has any sense of ethics they notify their users when this has occurred – it speaks for the times that this is as widespread as it is.
I logged into my Instagram account today from my computer. I looked through all of my pictures and then I noticed that suddenly I went from having 70ish pictures to 45. I have created a hashtag that I was the only one using for my photography business. I noticed now when I click on the hashtag there are no pictures under the hashtag. I had friend try clicking on the hashtag and the same thing happened to her. She then unfollowed me and searched for me and was able to find me. I don’t use many hashtags but always use the same ones. I did have to verify my account when I logged onto my Instagram today on the computer by entering a code that was sent to my phone. Have I been shadow banned?
Hey Ashley, that’s really strange. It does kind of sound like a shadowban because none of your pics are showing up under the hashtag. If your normal levels of engagement have declined, then you probably are. Sorry I can’t give you a definitive answer!
Surprisingly all of my pictures came back this morning except for a couple! But none of my hashtags are working still.
Hello!
I wanted to ask if we should post in our stories while we are waiting for the shadowban to be lifted?
Thanks!
Hey I’ve been shadowbanned as well on both of my accounts. I have no idea why. I can’t think of any unusual activity other than I did copy and paste a few of the same hashtags on a couple photos. Hopefully it is lifted soon. Super frustrating !!
I really appreciate your efforts put in this blog post. Keep sharing this kind of information!!
I have been shadow banned multiple times due to the nature of my account and the “controversial” information that I post. Currently, my hashtags are working but IGTV videos will not post to my timeline and none of my followers are seeing them at all. In the past I would simply go into my app settings for IG, click on storage, and clear the cache, NOT the memory. I’m not sure why that has worked but it has worked to clear the bans attached to my account and restore the functionality of the hashtags I use when they weren’t working. Lately that has not been working so I’ll probably just take a break and let some time pass.