If you’ve arrived here it’s likely you’ve heard about “Instagram Shadowban” around your Facebook groups or Instagram feeds.

Or it’s more likely that you must be facing that your account aren’t growing. You are not getting enough reach, likes, comments or following.

So it feels quite disappointing when our post isn’t showing up anywhere except our followers. 

You May Be A Victim of ‘ShadowBan’

Have you noticed your Instagram Post not getting engagement(fewer likes or comments), follower count declining, or photos not showing up in hashtags?  You might be a victim of the Instagram shadowban — and you wouldn’t even know it.

As per Instagram Policy, Shadowbanning is the act of blocking an account on Instagram, in such a way that the account owner doesn’t know it’s happening. If you’re shadowbanned, your content won’t appear on hashtags or instagram feed unless they already follow you. Which basically shuns the idea of using strategic hashtags to grow your Instagram community.

Whereas, on the contrary, Shadowbanning is authoritative act by Instagram; where it filters out those accounts who don’t follow Instagram policy terms. Some accounts use inauthentic measures to expand their list of followers, like automated bots or hundreds of hashtags irrelevant to their content. To make the APP easy and safe for everyone it seems only fair for Instagram to block those accounts, so that all users can receive genuine and helpful content.

What Instagram saying. .

While Instagram released a statement in February that addressed the problem about users were complaining that they were having with their content not showing up for certain hashtags. Check the Image below:

However, there’s a possibility that shadowbanning is an approach intended to hide malicious users’ content from the audience, and if you’re being shadowbanned, then it’s essential you take the basic actions to get your content seen.

The whole point of a Instagram shadowban is to deter users from toxic behavior such as people using bots, auto-posting software, and other black hat strategies that Instagram has never entertains.

Are you a victim of Instagram Shadowban? Let’s Explore. . .

How to Know if you’re shadowbanned? Check out our list of precautions to get rid of this issue.

Fortunately, I have figured out the trick and listed here few easy methods to check if your account is shadowbanned.

1. Firstly, post an image with a hashtag that isn’t trendy. (If you use a hashtag that is trendy or has millions of posts shared with it, it’ll be hard to search for your content, if it banned, or just lost in competition).
2. When your post is live, ask your friends (4-5) to unfollow you first then search that hashtag. If none of them see your post, then you’ve been shadowbanned.
3. If one or two of your friends can see your post, you might be facing a drop in engagement.

If that’s the case, then following are the few important steps you should take to fix this issue.

If you came to know through this test that you’ve been shadowbanned, then don’t worry — we have a solution for you.

Know, Why Your Account got Shadowbanned, and How to Fix It?

Following are the possible reasons that could lead to account shadowbanned. Now you should make sure that these mistakes will not be repeated.

1. Using Automated BOT / TOOL for Quick Instagram Growth: Instagram always encourage users to create original or authentic content. Moreover, user should use proper strategy to connect with audience and get followers and engagement. If you put in the hard work yourself, you will grow a following authentically. Using bots or automated tools is a spam tactics, and lead to shadowban.

2. Using Broken Hashtags: When a hashtag becomes trendy, it will eventually have inappropriate content. So, Instagram might block or limit its use. Unluckily, if you choose that broken hashtag, your post or content might not seen in any hashtag you used. It will prevent other hastags used in the post from ranking. It could also result in shadowban.

3. Your account is often reported: When users repeatedly report an account having inappropriate content or any illegal activity, Instagram will take action for violating their terms of service. They might disable / block your account, or they could shadowban it.

4. You’ve been doing activity (posting, commenting or following people) too fast: Instagram limits the use as per human activity; it places time constraints on how often you can follow/unfollow, like/comment, or post your content within an hour or day. This has logic — See, if you’re following 80 people within an hour, it’s likely a bot doing the work, not you.

5. Using Same Hashtags in every post: Using the same hashtag repeatedly could hide your Instagram posts from new audience.

Conclusion

These type of actions might help you grow a following quickly, but they can’t help you in future connecting with the right people. Furthermore, these user behaviors likely result in account shadowban, which severely restricts your reach to a new audience, Hence limit your growth.

How to Fix Shadowban & prevent it in future?

Reverse the damage and get back your account to normal. Do the following:

1. Stop using BOT & delete them immediately: To make sure those automated BOT generated accounts aren’t still attached to you.

Follow these steps:

• Open your Instagram on desktop
• Click “Edit Profile”,
• Then Click “Authorized Applications”.
• Check, If you have any of your BOT accounts in the list,
• Click “Revoke Access” to remove them completely.

Remember, it’s better to have 500 followers who love your brand and purchase your products, than 5,000 followers who never buy from you or interact with your content.

2. Never use Banned Hashtags: Make sure to remove all broken hashtags from your content. While posting, be selective and careful with the hashtags you choose, and when in doubt, take a look at the hashtag’s page. Instagram will likely post a message like, {“Recent posts from #Instamood are currently hidden … “}, which will indicate that the hashtag is no longer in use.

Important rules:

• Some of the hashtags might have banned forever.
• Few hashtags might be banned temporarily, so they might appear or disappear.
• Using banned Instagram hashtags could result in shadowban, block your account
• Even using one banned hashtag could cause all your other hashtags to not work.
• If you want to use a hashtag, first check if it is banned before you use it.

I am creating a list of banned hashtags, I will share with you all very soon.

3. Take a 2-3 Days Break; Stop using: Giving a break from using your Instagram accounts can reset the system and get you back on track.

4. Follow Instagram’s rules and regulations of usage: Read & Follow Instagram policy Terms & Conditions and Community Guidelines.

5. Report Shadowban to Instagram: Use the “Report a Problem” option within the Instagram app. To do this, simply go to your Instagram profile and select the “cog” icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Next, scroll down and select “Report a Problem.” A pop-up will appear where you will have few options. You need to select “Something Isn’t Working,” and write a short message in the space provided that clearly describes the issue. Reporting your shadowban to Instagram is worth a shot.

Instagram Shadowban Analyzer

You can also check if you have been shadowbanned or not by using online Instagram Shadowban Analyzer Tool.

However, it’s unclear how accurate the tool is. This is as simple as it gets, just enter your username or the link to a specific Instagram post to see if your account has been shadowbanned or not.

It search the list of hashtags you use in a post and then check if your post shows up under those hashtags or not.

But be careful! Don’t provide your credentials. If you have to log in with your Instagram account, it could be a scam. The tool above lets you search without having to log in with your credentials, only you need to enter your username.

Conclusion

In any case, try not to exceed 150-200 likes, 60 comments, and 60 follows/unfollows per hour. If all of a sudden you start following 80 accounts and then unfollow 40 of them, Instagram might take this as a BOT activity and your account will be shadowbanned.

Most importantly, it’s significant that you’re posting helpful, authentic content, and surviving by best practices when growing your audience.

It will take longer to achieve, but slow and steady wins the race — and doesn’t get shadowbanned — right?

Comment here and mention your experiences of using Instagram. Check my Instagram page @shilpy.digital and don’t forget to mention your ID. Lets connect and share our views.