What Is Instagram Shadowban, Causes, And How To Solve It – The term Instagram shadowban has become a trending topic, what does that term mean? Shadowban victims generally experience some negative changes to their Instagram accounts.
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What Is Instagram Shadowban, Causes, And How To Solve It
Maybe you’ve looked at your Instagram account and noticed the number of followers is decreasing? Or decreased engagement? Or even your new uploads don’t show up in explore Instagram? It could be a sign that your Instagram has been shadowbanned.
Have you ever heard of the ‘ time-out ‘ that Twitter imposes on accounts that post negative and abusive tweets? Well, this shadowban is not much different from what Twitter does.
Then, what to do if you become a victim of shadowban? How to get out of the block? Here’s the full explanation.
Understanding Instagram Shadowban
Generally, shadowban victims come from influencers. The Instagram account @dagelan admits to losing several followers, an influencer @mariakarinaa has also lost 60% of Story viewers.
This is certainly very detrimental to the victim, the victim’s business account can lose potential customers.
What’s more, the victim doesn’t even know that his account is ‘blocked’. Because no notification informs the account has been shadowbanned.
In short, Shadowban is Instagram’s move to block content that is shared by users unilaterally and is done secretly. In this case, if your account is shadowbanned, your post will not appear in explore Instagram.
Instagram shadowbans accounts that don’t comply with their rules and requirements. As a result, only you and your followers will be able to see the uploads, thus stopping the development of the account.
Features of Instagram Shadowban
You need to make sure whether your Instagram is being stunned or is experiencing a decline in engagement. To ensure this, you can pay attention to the following characteristics:
1. The Number Of Likes And Comments Dropped Drastically
Uploads of shadowban victims can only be seen by existing followers and account owners, automatically outsiders can’t see them. If your engagement rate drops drastically, there’s a chance that your account will be blocked.
2. Number Of Followers Not Rising
Has your account been without new followers for a long time? Though usually, the number of your followers continues to grow regularly. This can also be a feature of Instagram Shadowban.
Is it true that Instagram accounts are shadowbanned?
Some ways can be done to determine whether Instagram is shadowbanned or not. The most effective way is to upload uploads with hashtags that are not widely used, the goal is to make your uploads easier to check.
Then ask 4-5 accounts that are not your followers to check whether the upload exists or not, and how to check it by clicking the same hashtag. If they don’t find your upload, then your account will be blocked by Instagram.
Cause Instagram Shadowban
You must be curious about what you have done to get your Instagram account shadowban. several causes lead to shadowbans. What are they? Check out the full explanation below:
1. Using Instagram Banned Software
The software operated by bots is nothing new on the Instagram platform. If Instagram detects the use of like bots, comment bots, followers bots, and automatic upload software, then get ready for your account to be shadowbanned.
2. Breaking Action Restrictions On Instagram
Instagram imposes action restrictions on its users. Such as the number of comments left, the number of accounts followed, the number of unfollowed accounts, and even the number of uploads you like.
You can play it safe by not going past 60 follow/unfollow, 60 comments, and 150 likes per hour. If it exceeds this number, Instagram may mark your account as spam.
3. Violating The Use Of Hashtags
Sometimes some irresponsible Instagram users often misuse hashtags. For example, in feeds, the hashtag #beautyblogger sometimes contains images that violate Instagram rules, such as racially-smelling photos, spam, and even pornography.
If the activity is detected by Instagram, the hashtag in question will be restricted and even deleted. Therefore you need to be selective in choosing hashtags.
4. Account Get Reports Many Times
Accounts that get multiple reports can draw attention to Instagram about accounts that may not comply with community guidelines.
Accounts that are frequently reported are usually those that violate copyright, are fraudulent, or upload negative content. Instagram can shadowban the account, even disable it forever.
How to Overcome Shadowban?
Being a victim of Instagram shadowban is indeed unsettling. Anyone doesn’t want engagement to drop, follower numbers to stop growing, and growth to stop, especially business people.
According to Alex Tooby, an influencer and Instagram expert, there are several things you can do if you get shadowbanned, such as:
1. Remove All Forms Of Automation Software From Account
Be proud to have organic followers even if it’s only 50 people out of 1,000 bot accounts that don’t support you. Bots can’t buy the products you’re selling, nor can they click on shop links embedded in profiles. So what’s the point?
It’s better to have a few followers who like your content than thousands of bot followers, to make sure your account is clean of any automation services you can check on your Instagram desktop.
You do this by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner, then selecting Edit Your Profile, then Official Applications. If there is an unknown application, immediately click Revoke Access.
2. Avoid And Remove Instagram Restricted Hashtags
Before inserting hashtags in your uploads, make sure the hashtags used are not restricted or blocked by Instagram. Restricted hashtags don’t display a single image or contain only one page with a notification that the hashtag has been abused.
Take note of Instagram-restricted hashtags so you don’t use them again in the future. If your old upload used the hashtag, you can still edit the caption and delete the hashtag.
3. Take A Break From Instagram
The third way to deal with Instagram Shadowban is to take a break from Instagram, it can be for two days, four days, one week, or as you like. Many say that Instagram will reset your account during this time.
After successfully escaping Shadowban, you must comply with Instagram’s community rules and guidelines. Don’t use automation services anymore.
4. Don’t Use Growth Hacks
You may have heard of growth hacks, which are attempts to increase engagement quickly. For example, you add 30 hashtags in the comments column, then edit your caption to add 30 more hashtags.
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There are 60 hashtags in total, whereas Instagram only allows 30 hashtags. The fact is that the hack doesn’t increase engagement at all, it violates community guidelines. So always pay attention to Instagram’s community guidelines so you don’t get shadowban.
5. Contact Instagram
The last way is to contact Instagram. The company is indeed very difficult to contact, so don’t expect to get a reply to the problem you are complaining about.
However, you can try reporting Instagram Shadowban problems via the gear icon at the top right, then look for the Report Problem menu, then press Something Not Working, and submit your complaint.