How to Fix “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on Instagram

With over 2.35 billion monthly active users on Instagram, moderating the platform is crucial. Instagram takes numerous measures to keep the platform safe and to ensure a healthy user experience. If you see the message “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on your Instagram profile, there’s likely an unusual behavior from your account.

In this article, we’ll help you understand and mitigate the issue. At times, an unintended activity may cause the message to occur. However, the error message may also occur due to a bug. We’ll show you all the possible ways to detect and fix the issue. However, let us first understand what this issue means.

What Does “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” Mean

Instagram wants to protect its platform and users from bots. These bots are usually deployed for inorganic reach on Instagram, thus resulting in spam activity. Further, bots are also used as an avenue for malicious activities.

Therefore, Instagram uses various tools to detect such activity and restricts features for such accounts. Such users receive a message saying, “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community,” on Instagram.

Also Read: How to avoid or remove Instagram Shadowban

14 Ways to Fix Instagram Restricting Certain Activity

If you see the error message on your Instagram profile, here’s everything you can do to resolve and remove any restrictions.

1. Complete Your Instagram Account Information

If you have newly joined Instagram and are facing the issue, you probably need to complete your account information. Instagram may restrict you owing to a lack of information to ensure the authenticity of the profile.

Step 1: Open the Instagram app and go to your profile from the bottom tab. Tap on the Edit Profile button.

Step 2: Tap on ‘Personal Information Settings’.

Step 3: Tap on Contact Info.

Step 4: Complete adding all the necessary information.

2. Remove Links From Your Bio

If you are showcasing any links that are prohibited or detected as malicious, you may face a few restrictions while using Instagram. Therefore, you need to remove any links against Instagram’s policies. Here’s how:

Step 1: Launch Instagram and tap on the Profile icon at the bottom.

Step 2: On your profile page, tap on the Edit Profile button.

Step 3: Tap on Links.

Step 4: Verify the nature of the links and remove the ones that may violate Instagram’s policies.

3. Check If Instagram is Down

If Instagram faces downtime, you may experience issues and errors while using the platform. Therefore, ensure to check if Instagram is down. All you need to do is to wait for Instagram to fix the issue and get the platform up and running again.

If you are active on other social media platforms, the news of Instagram facing downtime will likely reach you. If not, you can check the status of Instagram using Down Detector.

4. Stop Overdoing Activities

Avoid repeatedly posting comments of the same nature and sending messages to accounts in bulk, especially the ones that may contain links. Instagram treats such activity as spam, therefore, will restrict you from certain activities on the app.

5. Restart the Instagram App

If the error message “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” occurs due to a bug, closing the app and starting it again will help you close and wipe the bug. Hence, try restarting Instagram to see if the issue is fixed.

Step 1: Open the multi-tasking window on your smartphone. If you don’t have a dedicated button, drag upwards from your home screen.

Step 2: Swipe up to close the app and reopen it from your App Library.

6. Sign Out and Sign Into Instagram

If there’s an issue with your current login session, you may see the message “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on Instagram. Signing out from Instagram and signing in again will help.

Step 1: Open the Instagram app and go to the Profile tab.

Step 2: Tap on the menu button and select Settings.

Step 3: Tap on Log Out.

This will log you out of Instagram. Once you open the app again, you will find the option to sign in to your account.

7. Remove Third-Party Connected Apps

If any connected third-party app is deemed suspicious by Instagram, your activity may be restricted. Therefore, try removing the connected third-party apps to see if the problem is resolved.

Step 1: Open Instagram and go to your Profile from the bottom. Tap on the hamburger-shaped icon in the top right.

Step 2: Tap on ‘Settings and Privacy’.

Step 3: Tap on Website permissions.

Step 4: Tap on ‘Apps and Websites’.

Step 5: Tap on the Remove option in the Active menu to disconnect the app from Instagram.

8. Avoid Using Banned Hashtags

Instagram has banned users from using specific hashtags in posts and comments. Attempting to use any of these may restrict your account’s activities. Here’s a website that lists the banned hashtags on Instagram.

9. Disable VPN

If you are using a different IP address using a VPN, Instagram may flag it as suspicious activity and restrict you from using a few features. Therefore, disable VPN if you see the error message “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on Instagram.

Disable VPN on iPhone

Step 1: Open the Settings app and select General.

Step 2: Tap on ‘VPN & Device Management’.

Ensure that the status says ‘Not Connected’ meaning you are not connected to a VPN service.

Disable VPN on Android

Step 1: Go to the Settings app and open ‘Connection & sharing’ (or a similar panel in settings based on the device you are using)

Step 3: Tap on VPN. Ensure the toggle is turned off. This means that you are not connected to any VPN service.

10. Clear Instagram Cache (Android)

Every application stores data offline, called cache on your phone, to ensure it saves time instead of downloading it from the Internet again. This helps in faster app launch and reload speeds. However, accumulation of cache may lead to junk files that execute bugs.

Therefore, if you are facing any issue with the Instagram app, clearing the app cache is one way to resolve the issue. You can check our guide on what happens when you clear your cache on Instagram for a better understanding.

Note: Unfortunately, clearing the cache is only possible on Android devices, so iPhone users can jump to the next fix.

Step 1: Long-press the Instagram app on the home screen and tap on App info.

Step 2: Tap on Clear Data.

Step 3: Tap on Clear cache and select OK to confirm.

11. Update the Instagram App

If a large number of users unnecessarily see the warning “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on Instagram, it is a widespread bug. Instagram will release an update to fix the issue. Therefore, ensure you update the Instagram app from the Play Store or App Store.

Step 1: Open the multi-tasking window on your smartphone. If you don’t have a dedicated button, drag it upwards from your home screen.

Step 2: Swipe up to close the app and reopen it from your App Library.

12. Reinstall the Instagram App

If you face persistent issues with the Instagram app, this may be due to a few corrupted files. Reinstalling the app will eliminate such files and download a fresh copy. Here’s how you can reinstall the Instagram app.

Step 1: Long-press on Instagram’s icon on the home screen.

Step 2: Tap on Delete App on iPhone or Uninstall on Android and confirm once again to Delete the app.

Step 3: Reinstall the app using the links below.

Install Instagram on iPhone

Install Instagram on Android

13. Use Instagram Web

If there’s no way you can get rid of the “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on the Instagram app, try using the web version of Instagram.

Use Instagram Web

14. Contact Instagram Support

If none of the above methods work, you can contact the Instagram support team. They can help you resolve the issue and get back to using Instagram without any problems.

Step 1: Open Instagram and go to your profile. Tap on the menu button at the top right.

Step 2: Select Settings.

Step 3: Tap on Help and then tap on ‘Report a Problem’.

Step 4: Select ‘Report a Problem Without Shaking.’

Step 5: Tap on ‘Include and continue’ to add logs to help Instagram understand the problem better.

Step 6: Explain the problem in brief and tap on Send.

That is everything you need to know to resolve the error message “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on Instagram. If you have any further questions, look at the FAQ section below.

FAQs on Unable to Use Instagram

Use Instagram Without Restrictions

We hope this article helps you resolve the error message “We Restrict Certain Activity to Protect Our Community” on Instagram. As mentioned, avoid using hacky techniques to gain followers and interaction on Instagram – most of them violate Instagram’s policies, and your account will most likely be restricted.