IG Shadowban – What it is and How to Get Rid of it 

The shadowban won’t stay on your account forever, in most cases, your photos will become visible to others again in 2 or 3 weeks. But if you want to get rid of the ban sooner, there are some things you can do.

Before diving into that though, here’s what might be causing your account to live in the shadows.

Here are the causes of IG Shadowban

Your Using Software that Violates Instagram’s Terms of Service.

This includes but is not limited to, robo follower websites, auto-posting websites like Onlypult (not to be confused with push notifications like Buffer, Sprout Social, Planoly, and Preview App), fake likes websites and many others.

Instagram has been cracking down on this and has even caused MassPlanner and Instagress to be shut down. Buying followers and likes from Fiverr is also a BIG no no.

You’re Exceeding your Daily/Hourly Limits.

Each engagement method is given a max amount per time period that cannot be exceeded.You have a limit as to how much you can engage within a given time frame. This engagement extends from likes to follows. Depending on the age of your account you receive 150 likes, 60 comments, and 60 follow/unfollow per hour.

However, there is a 3-month growth process that enables your account to earn higher engagement rates as time moves on.

You’re using a broken or abused hashtag.

Instagram has millions of users to keep track of. Monitoring each one on a daily basis is next to impossible. However, Instagram can monitor hashtags. As of last year, innocent hashtags such as #elevator can become overrun with nudity, spam, and racially insensitive material.

When Instagram realizes that a hashtag has been “broken” they either ban or limits its use. Utilizing any broken hashtag on your post can stop you from ranking for that hashtag and others. Preventing you from ranking at all! : (

To avoid this I suggest downloading this hashtag guide or working together with a hashtag mastermind group.

Your account is continually being reported.

Violating the terms of service or Community Guidelines (copyright, spam, infringement, etc.) is the fastest way to get on Instagram’s radar.

Instagram may fully disable your account or give you a lengthy shadowban to put your account in timeout.

Figuring out if you’re shadowbanned these days is a challenge because Instagram has also shutdown shadowban websites too.

So here’s a suggestion: Ask 4-5 trusted users and friends that do not follow you, you can also ask your friends to unfollow you temporarily. Ask them to see if your most recent post is visible under a hashtag, a great one to select is a hashtag with less than 50,000 posts under it.

For example, #yourbrandsname that way only your brand’s images will appear.

If no one can see your post, it’s possible you have been banished to the shadow realm.

via GIPHY

If some of the users see your post, then it’s more likely that your engagement has simply just dropped on your account.

In addition, there are software systems that will detect if your account has been shadowbanned.

But use them wisely, if they ask for login credentials it’s possible that the site is a squeeze page to steal accounts.

If your account has been shadowbanned, fear not we have some ways to remove the Instagram shadowban!

First of all, double check all the hashtags you use. They should be relevant to the post and not banned by IG. To check if the hashtag is banned, search the hashtag. If no posts appear except for the top posts section – it is banned.

Remove bots or auto-posting software and start playing by the rules. Bots don’t help your account anyway, so don’t worry about giving them up.

Stop using Instagram for a few days. Many people have said that this automatically removes the shadowban, but you have to be strict with yourself – you can’t even log in with your shadowbanned account, let alone post or comment.

1. Delete Hashtags from a recent post.

2. Remove hashtags from a recent post.

3. Place Hashtags in Caption.

4. Don’t Overload with hashtags.

   I am a firm believer in utilizing all 30 hashtags, However, some users have reported the ban being lifted after they:

    

• Remove hashtags from an old post
• Post hashtags in the caption
• Use less than 30 hashtags
  
  So give it a try, it never hurts!

5. “Report a Problem” to Instagram through the app.

• Go in the Instagram Settings
• Select “Report a Problem”
• Select “Something isn’t working”.
  Go on Facebook and search for Instagram (App page) and select “Send a Message”.
  Send an email at support@instagram.com. 

6.Do not switch to a business profile.

7. Switch back to a personal account.

Is it fair to shadowban innocent users utilizing hashtags to grow their account? YES. But it will continue to happen as Instagram continues to grow. It is my belief that millions of accounts are added each day in brand’s efforts to grow their account.

The best thing we can do to avoid all of these awful setbacks to continue to work together and grow our accounts honestly. It can be difficult and time consuming, but isn’t a more engaged audience better than a bunch of users you paid to follow you? Yes.

Have you been shadowbanned before? Did you find this info super helpful? Join the Mother of Marketing Facebook community and get the support you need as you grow your brand.