Shadow ban on Instagram: what is it, how not to get caught and how to remove a shadow ban

Shadow ban on Instagram: what is it, how not to get caught and how to remove a shadow ban

A shadow ban on Instagram is a situation in which you are not officially blocked, you can publish posts and stories, but subscribers do not see you. The shadow ban lasts from 2-3 to 14 days. But some bloggers claim that such a ban can last for several months.

Bans appeared along with the “smart feed”, where posts are ranked not by chronology, but by logic and algorithms that are fully known only to the developers of this social network.

Thus, from the point of view of Instagram, shadow ban is a useful tool for the average reader, which helps filter out accounts that violate the rules of the social network.

Signs of a shadow ban

Nobody will officially notify you that you have received a ban, but you can understand this by some signs:

  1. People do not see your posts, likes, reach and views in stories drop sharply, and this is shown by third-party statistics services.
  2. You cannot find posts by your hashtags (in case you have personal or low frequency, up to 1000 posts hashtags). When the ban is over, the hashtags will work again.
  3. Your posts are not visible by geolocation.
  4. If you are searched for through a search, then you cannot be found, as if your account does not exist at all.
  5. You cannot be tagged in Stories.
  6. An unsubscribe is in progress. Moreover, Instagram itself unsubscribes people.
  7. Participating in a giveaway, people subscribe to you, but you do not appear at all in the feed and stories of new users, so people cannot even get to know you.

What can you get a shadow ban for?

A ban can be obtained for the following actions:

  • Posting inappropriate content, such as nude photos, undressed small children, obscene language, etc.
  • Numerous complaints about the post (this may be due to the content or detractors).
  • Using someone else’s music.
  • Cheat bots.
  • Using automation tools: mass-following, mass-following, mass-tracking or auto-posting services.
  • Exceeding the limits for likes and comments. As a guideline, for new accounts 20 per hour, for old ones – 60 likes and comments per hour.
  • High frequency hashtag abuse. Hashtags must be unique, they must be selected for each post.

How to get out of the ban

It is trite, but the best treatment is prevention. Read the Instagram rules and follow them. And during the ban period, you should not give up, remember that no matter how coverage falls, your audience will always be with you, for them your blog will still be their favorite and this is your best motivation to continue working.

To shorten the ban period, turn off third-party services, remove hashtags completely from recent posts. It is better to do everything during this period to increase subscriber engagement and create content that will gain a lot of likes and saves.

Share in the comments if you faced a ban situation, and how quickly did you manage to get out of it?


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