How to Avoid or Remove Instagram Shadowban

Instagram remains one of the important social media platforms for expanding your reach, growing your business, and creating a personal brand. If you suddenly notice Instagram limiting your content and reach on the platform, chances are, you have been shadowbanned. Here are the best ways to avoid or remove Instagram shadowban.

Do your new posts on Instagram receive way fewer likes and comments than previous ones? Instagram may have limited your account’s visibility. It may impact gravely if you are an influencer or rely on Instagram to grow your business.

What Is Shadowban on Instagram

Instagram hasn’t publicly admitted to shadowbanning. However, many have noticed their newer posts getting low reach on the platform (20+ likes compared to 250+ for the previous posts). When you grow on Instagram, you rely on the Explore page and hashtags to reach a new audience. But if you have violated one of the company guidelines, Instagram may put some brakes on your reach and artificially limits the account to your followers only.

Now that you know the consequences of shadowbanning on Instagram, use the tips below to avoid it.

1. Don’t Violate the Company Guidelines

Instagram comes with company guidelines and terms to create a healthy environment for its users. You should not post inappropriate content, promote illegal apps, or share hate speech on the platform. Instagram may restrict your account if others report the content to the company.

2. Don’t Act Like a Bot

Instagram expects you to behave like a normal human being. That means, if your activities include liking too many posts in a short time, sharing dozens of comments in few minutes, or following hundreds of accounts in a short time. Instagram may detect your account as a bot and shadowban it.  

3. Don’t Buy Followers or Fake Engagement

It’s one of the common mistakes from beginners to grow their reach on Instagram. When the company detects an unusual number of followers or abnormally high engagement on your posts, the algorithm may limit your account reach for violating the rules.

4. Don’t Use Banned Hashtags

Instagram bans several hashtags to avoid misinformation, hate speech, terror content, and illegal activities on the platform. If you continue to use such content in your posts and Reels, the company may shadowban your account.

5. Check Third-Party Apps Access

While third-party apps and services improve your Instagram experience, don’t go overboard. When Instagram detects automation via unknown apps on your account, you may face shadowban on the platform. Here’s how to check and remove third-party app access from your account.

Step 1: Open the Instagram app on your phone and tap your account icon in the bottom-right corner.

Step 2: Tap the three horizontal lines at the top and open Settings & privacy.

Step 3: Select Website permissions.

Step 4: Open Apps and websites. Remove unnecessary websites and apps from your account.

6. Don’t Plagiarize Posts

Do you frequently download and repost those high-engagement posts from others on Instagram? When others report your behavior, the company may shadowban your account and limit its reach.

How Can You Tell If You Have Been Shadowbanned on Instagram

Instagram doesn’t alert you for shadowbanning your account. You need to take an educated guess based on the engagement of recent posts. It confirms the shadowban if you notice a sharp drop in likes, comments, and overall views. Instagram shadowban usually lasts for a couple of weeks.

• When you notice a major drop in recent post performance on Instagram
• When your followers complain about not seeing your posts
• Your audience insights display a significant drop in non-follower reach

How to Remove Instagram Shadowban

The tips below are suggestions for removing shadowban on Instagram. These are not guaranteed to work for everyone since they’re not suitable if you’re looking for one-size-fits-all solutions.

1. Delete Your Recent Posts

One of your recent posts may have landed you in trouble with Instagram. If you can figure out, delete your recent posts on the platform and wait a few days.

2. Delete All Hashtags From Posts

Did you use inappropriate or banned hashtags in your recent posts? It’s a good idea to edit out or delete all such troubling hashtags from your post.

3. Don’t Post for a Few Days

Instead of engaging with several posts on Instagram and increasing your shadowban tenure, you’ll need to wait for a week or two and check engagement on new posts.

4. Start Posting Reels

Thanks to the popularity of short-form videos, Instagram is prioritizing Reels over usual posts. You can post several Reels on your account and keep a close eye on their views.

5. Boost a Post

If your post engagement is quite low on Instagram, you should boost it with a few bucks. Instagram shows your post as an ad on other users’ feed and increases its overall reach.

Increase Your Instagram Reach

Instagram shadowbanning your account can ruin your social media experience. Before you report the problem to Instagram or move to another social media app, use the tricks above to avoid and remove shadowban.