The Instagram shadowban is a dreadful issue for creators as it makes your reach vanish and your content gets ghosted mercilessly. However, it has always been an unofficial topic, so people don’t know how to deal with it. In this guide, we will tell you how to check if your Instagram account has been shadowbanned and how to remove the curse with some simple methods to get back your audience.
Recently, Shadowban has been officially discussed by Instagram head Adam Mosseri. There are now ways available to test if your IG account has received a shadowban and the cause behind it. This makes it easier to deal with the situation and fix the problem. Earlier, this issue was even more complicated.
What is an Instagram Shadowban?
Shadowban is a situation when Instagram limits the reach of an account’s content. The account owner can visibly realize that their posts or videos are getting fewer likes, comments, views, and shares than they were previously getting. This can happen for several reasons that we’ll discuss here.
Basically, an Instagram shadowban is an instance of hiding or restricting a user’s content without formally informing the user that it’s happening. Your content will be taken off of other users’ feeds, Explore sections, and hashtag pages unless they are your followers.
Typically, Instagram shadowbans an account when a user has violated the platform’s community guidelines or when their content is deemed inappropriate. Your account may also get shadowbanned if you’re inactive for prolonged days, months, or years, or when you’re getting involved in prohibited practices.
What Happens during an Instagram Shadowban?
When your Instagram account is shadowbanned, your content will be deprioritized from users’ timelines. The reach of your posts will be drastically reduced and your posts will receive reactions as if they’ve been hidden or restricted. You’ll receive too few likes, comments, views, and shares compared to previous times.
However, you won’t receive any formal notification, mail, or text from Instagram stating that they’ve shadowbanned your account like they do when disabling or banning your account.
This makes the situation pretty complicated as you’ve to figure out yourself if you’ve been shadowbanned or if it’s just a regular drop in the reach of your content. Once you’ve identified the fault, you can deal with it accordingly. The latter will be resolved automatically, while the former needs some manual actions.
Why does Instagram Shadowban Accounts?
There are a number of reasons why Instagram shadowbans certain accounts. Let’s take a look at the key causes one by one here:
Violation of Instagram’s Community Guidelines:
As a creator, you must be well aware of Instagram’s community guidelines. You must thoroughly read and follow them. If you violate any of the pointers given there, your account is highly likely to receive a shadowban and consequent drop in the reach of its content.
For instance, Instagram doesn’t allow nudity (except for some occasions such as breastfeeding, health-related situations, etc), and if you post a nude picture on your account, it’ll be taken off of the platform. If you do such things repeatedly, your account will receive a shadow ban.
Using Bots or Acting Like a Bot:
If you’ve been using malpractices, such as using ‘tools’ to increase your Instagram followers or likes on your post, your account is likely to get its reach restricted. Or, if you’re engaging with too many people at the same time, you are likely to receive a shadowban.
Meta’s spam policy states that users shouldn’t post, share, or engage at very high frequencies, neither manually nor automatically. So, if you’ve been doing such things, stop right now.
Inconsistent Posting Schedule:
If you are not posting regularly on Instagram, you won’t be in the Meta-owned platform’s good books. You should prioritize quality over quantity and plan your content effectively. You can also use third-party tools to schedule your content and be regular to not get shadowbanned.
Frequent Reports Against You:
If your account is getting mass-reported or reported frequently, or if you’re posting content that gets reported too often, you are likely to get shadowbanned.
You should also focus on using content warnings wherever applicable. If you are posting sensitive content, display a clear warning. This way, users won’t have to see the content that they don’t want to and they will not report your profile. You’ll also be in the good books of Instagram.
Using Banned Hashtags:
One of the most common reasons for getting shadowbanned on Instagram is the frequent use of banned hashtags. The list of banned Instagram hashtags changes daily, and people don’t even know what they’re doing wrong. For instance, “#mustfollow” is a banned hashtag and a lot of IG users use it daily.
Here is a list of broken or banned Instagram hashtags that you shouldn’t use to avoid getting shadowbanned:
- #anorexia
- #alone
- #a$$
- #antivax
- #abdl
- #addmysc
- #adulting
- #alone#always
- #armparty
- #asiangirl
- #beautyblogger
- #bikinibody
- #boho
- #blogladrona
- #brain
- #besties
- #bikinibod
- #costumes
- #curvygirls
- #cancer
- #date
- #dating
- #desk
- #dm
- #elevator
- #edm
- #endme
- #followtrain
- #followtrains
- #graffitiigers
- #girlsonly
- #gloves
- #hardworkpaysoff
- #happythanksgiving
- #humpday
- #hustler
- #hotgirls
- #iphonegraphy
- #italiano
- #ifb
- #kansas
- #killingit
- #kissing
- #kill
- #killme
- #killyourself
- #kys
- #master
- #models
- #mustfollow
- #nasty
- #newyearsday
- #petite
- #petitegirls
- #pushups
- #payme
- #saltwater
- #shit
- #shower
- #single
- #singlelife
- #skype
- #snap
- #snapchat
- #snapchatme
- #snowstorm
- #sopretty
- #stranger
- #streetphoto
- #sunbathing
- #swole
- #suicide
- #suicideawareness
- #tag4like
- #tanlines
- #teens
- #teen
- #thought
- #tanlines
- #todayimwearing
- #thought
- #undies
- #unbalanced
- #valentinesday
- #workflow
- #youngmodel
- #yolo
How to Check if your Instagram is Shadowbanned?
Earlier, users had to guess if their Instagram account was shadowbanned but now Meta provides a way to determine the calamity. If you have a creator or business account on Instagram, you can use the Account Status feature to check if you’ve been shadowbanned due to a certain reason.
To test if your Instagram account is shadowbanned, launch the app and ensure that you’re signed in. Now go to your profile section and then tap the ‘Menu’ button. Next, tap on “Settings,” then tap on “Account,” and then tap on “Account Status.” Here, you can see if something is affecting your account.
If there is something, Instagram will also provide suggestions on how to fix it. However, if there isn’t anything present, you can conclude that your account is not shadowbanned. This means your reach has simply dropped and it’ll be back once you start posting valuable content regularly.
Check Instagram Shadowban Without a Professional Account:
If you don’t have a professional account, you can still see if Instagram shadowbanned your account. There are traditional methods that will help you. You just need a public account for this. The first thing you have to do is to post an image with a very unusual hashtag that isn’t used often.
After that, find five people who don’t follow you and ask them to search for that hashtag. If none of them find your post in the results, then you’re shadowbanned by Instagram. However, if some of them can see your posts, then Instagram has just dropped the reach of your content. You can easily fix it.
How to Remove an Instagram Shadowban?
Now that you’ve realized that your Instagram account is shadowbanned, it’s time to remove the curse. There are several things you can do to fix the IG shadowban. We’ve made a simple list of actions you need to do in order to get your account back to normal. Do the needful ASAP.
1. Delete the Problematic Post:
If you’ve found the post that is the reason behind your Instagram account suffering this fate, you can simply delete it. Once you’ve deleted the post, go back to the “Account Status” section
2. Clear Banned Hashtags from your Posts:
If you’ve identified that you were using banned hashtags in your posts and Reels without knowing, you can clear them manually. Once all of them are removed, your shadowban will go away eventually. Refrain from using such hashtags in the future to avoid this problem.
3. Stop Using Bots & Third-Party Tools:
If you’ve been using bots and third-party tools to boost your Instagram account, stop doing that right away. You should de-link your Instagram account from such apps and revoke their access. Also, if you were following too many people or liking too many posts at once, consider not doing that.
4. Improve Your Content Quality:
You should also focus on improving the quality of your content. If you have been sharing random posts and Reels, stop doing that and try creating authentic ones. You should also ensure that your content provides enough value to your audience, and then Instagram will promote it.
One tip is to post a good mix of Reels and image-based posts on your profile. The Instagram algorithm constantly keeps changing, and you should always stay updated with what’s working.
5. Take a Temporary Break:
Once you have followed the above steps, but you still feel like Instagram is limiting your posts, it’s good to take a small break from the platform. You can also deactivate your account for a couple of days and reactivate it when you feel like it’s time to come back.
Ultimately, you can also contact the Instagram support team and report the problem. If there is a genuine issue, they’ll take care of that. However, you will have to wait for a good amount of time to receive a reply from them. However, the shadowban can easily be removed without needing help from Meta.
Final Words:
The shadowban is a curse for Instagram creators. It makes your months and even years of hard work go down the drain if not dealt with properly. This is how you check if Instagram has shadowbanned your account and then how to take care of the issue to remove the restrictions to gain back the reach.
The above-mentioned tips, tricks, and methods will also work for your career as a creator on Facebook since it’s also owned by Meta. If you’re still struggling with any such issue on your Instagram or Facebook account, feel free to let us know in the comments. We’ll be glad to help you more.
That’s all for this guide about Meta’s shadowban. Drop your reviews in the comments.
Frequently asked questions:
Yes, Instagram shadowbans accounts that don’t follow the community guidelines and violate them often, use banned hashtags, don’t post content regularly, and use third-party bots and apps for shortcuts. However, they don’t acknowledge it officially. Your reach will just drop drastically and your posts will stop showing up on the users’ Explore page and For You feed.
The simplest way to determine if you’re shadowbanned on Instagram is to see Instagram Insights. If there is a significant drop in your engagement metrics and audience reach, you’re likely shadowbanned. After that, you can go to the Account Status section from Settings and see if there’s a certain post behind this.
An Instagram shadowban lasts for around a week to a month. Sometimes, the shadowban will go away in three to four days if you’ve resolved the issue with your account in time. The other times, your shadowban can still exist for over a month despite doing everything right. You can contact Meta support in that case.
Social media experts state that you should take a small break of around 2 to 4 days once you’ve been shadowbanned on Instagram. After that, you can come back and start posting with fresh energy and enthusiasm. Try focusing on a mix of Reels and posts to provide value to your audience.
No, a shadowban is a temporary drop in the reach of your content in which it stops appearing in public spaces but will still be shown to some of your followers. Usually, an Instagram shadowban lasts for two weeks and can be removed even quicker with the help of some right actions.
This is Saquib, a technology and social media expert with over 10 years of experience in the industry. With a passion for staying up-to-date on the latest developments and trends in the tech and social media world and as a writer, I have been creating informative and engaging content that is easy for readers to understand and enjoy, also published in several leading tech and social media publications and is a regular speaker at industry events. In addition to my writing and speaking engagements, I also work as a consultant, helping businesses grow with the ever-changing tech and social media niche.
