How to Check If You’re Shadowbanned on Instagram
Unsure if you’ve been shadowbanned on Instagram but don’t know how to check or what to do about it? Take a look at our latest blog post.

Written by
Julia CohenJump to a section ✨
What Is Instagram Shadowbanning? 🙅‍♀️
How to Check If You’re Shadowbanned on Instagram 🕵️‍♂️
How do you simply check if you’re shadowbanned on Instagram?
Checking for banned hashtags that could lead to a shadowban, manually:
Checking for banned hashtags that could lead to a shadowban, with Flick:
- Discovery % of new users
- Impressions from Hashtags
- Impressions from Profile
- Impressions from Others
Why You’ve Been Shadowbanned on Instagram & What To Do About It 💪
Let’s take a look at common reasons for Instagram shadowbanning:
- You’re not complying with the community guidelines.
Instagram take its community guidelines seriously, so if you’re in breach of them, there’s a good chance you’ll end up penalized by the platform. The community guidelines can be found here so brush up and be sure to stay within them. - You’re buying followers or faking engagement.
Say it with us: buying followers on Instagram isn’t worth it. If Instagram catches on that your followers are bots or spammers, they might not take too kindly to your account. Real, organic growth and genuinely engaged followers are what you want, full stop. - You’re using banned or flagged hashtags.
Certain hashtags have been banned or flagged by Instagram as going against their community guidelines. If you use these hashtags, you’re putting your account in danger by association. New hashtags are getting flagged all the time, so it’s difficult to know for sure which ones to avoid. That’s where Flick’s #1 hashtag tool can help, as it will never suggest banned or flagged hashtags, letting you effortlessly sidestep any that could potentially get you shadowbanned. - You’re using the same hashtags over and over.
If you’re constantly copying and pasting the same block of hashtags over and over (and over), it could be that Instagram thinks you’re being, well, a little bit spammy. Your hashtag strategy should include a way to use relevant hashtags every time. And since your content probably varies a bit, your hashtags should too. - You’re over-engaging.
Is there such a thing as being too gung-ho with the old-like button? You bet – if you ramp up your liking and commenting to over-enthusiastic levels, Instagram might assess you as being less-than-genuine in your engagements. To avoid being shadowbanned, keep it real and don’t get too trigger-happy with that double-tapping.
How can you fix being shadowbanned on Instagram?✍️
- The first thing you should do is remove any broken, banned or restricted hashtags, in order to signal to Instagram that you are complying with their guidelines and not posting any content that could be flagged as inappropriate.
- Instagram only allows up to 500 actions a day, and this includes follows, likes, comments and DMs. If you find you are over-engaging, try and cut back, so that your account isn’t raised as promoting spam-like activity.
- Focus on growing organically and posting quality, engaging content.
- Comply with all community guidelines.
- Ensure you have a solid hashtag strategy that takes into account banned hashtags in the future.
- If you believe you have complied with all of the guidelines, and still are shadowbanned, you can report an issue to Instagram by navigating to Settings -> Report a Problem.


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