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What is Instagram Shadow Banning and How to Fix It?

In essence, an Instagram shadow ban refers to the platform’s restriction of your content’s visibility. Your material with hash tags not showing up on Explore pages for anyone but your followers is the main indicator of a shadow ban. Another consequence is that your audience and visibility for posts are severely constrained. Shadow banning is a word that was inspired by a comparable Twitter activity. Although not an official term, it is a well-liked one among social media users.

                 How to Determine Whether You’ve Been Shadow banned

If it isn’t obvious, Instagram’s shadow ban procedures make it challenging to determine whether you have been punished. Although there is no foolproof technique to determine if you have been shadow banned, the following tests should give you a good indication:

Check your postings

Send a fresh live post together with a well-known hashtag. Ask a few individuals who do not follow you to look at the stuff under the hashtag to see if your post appears.

Check your hashtags

Instagram has recognized that some contentious hashtags have been hidden, among other things. You might have used one of these hashtags if you discover a message concealed behind one of them.

Review your Instagram insights data

There’s a good possibility you’ve been shadow banned if your impressions and engagement outside of your follower base have suddenly dropped dramatically.

Instagram shadow banning, also known as ghost banning, is a practice where a user’s content on Instagram is blocked or partially hidden from a wider audience without their knowledge. The affected user may still see their posts and interact with their followers, but their posts may not appear in hashtags, search results, or the feeds of users who don’t already follow them.

Some causes of shadow banning are listed below, along with remedies:

Using Prohibited Hashtags:

Avoid utilizing hashtags that Instagram has restricted or banned. These hashtags are frequently linked to offensive or spammy material.

Breaking Instagram Rules:

Make sure you are abiding by Instagram’s Community Guidelines, which prohibit employing automation, spamming, and engaging in any form of harassment or hate speech.

Engagement Pods or Bots:

Use automation or engagement pods that artificially boost your engagement at all costs. These actions might be recognized as spam by Instagram’s algorithm.

Extraordinary Engagement

Keep the number of likes, comments, and followers you leave on social media to a sensible minimum. Instagram’s spam filters may be activated by overly frequent engagement.

Authentication fraud:

Be genuine and natural in your interactions with your fans. Accounts that engage in questionable or fake behavior may be punished by Instagram.

Content Violations:

Make sure your content complies with Instagram’s rules to avoid content violations. Do not use offensive language, nudity, violence, or other forbidden materials.

Report the Issue to Instagram: 

If you believe you were unjustly shadow banned, you can use the app to inform Instagram of the problem. To report a problem, go to Settings > Help > Report a Problem and explain the issue you’re having.

Changing to a Business Profile: 

If you currently have a personal account, you might want to think about transferring to a business profile. You may be able to comprehend and expand your reach by using the additional insights and statistics that business profiles have access to.

It’s important to note that Instagram’s algorithm and rules may change over time, so staying informed about their guidelines and best practices is key to maintaining a healthy and visible presence on the platform.

Additionally, think about contacting a trustworthy agency like ewoke, which is regarded as a top Social Media Marketing & Advertising Agency in Kochi, Kerala, India, if you need professional assistance with social media marketing and digital advertising. Their knowledge may assist you in making the most of your online presence and engaging your audience successfully. As the leading Digital Marketing Agency In Kochi, Kerala, India, eWoke offering complete solutions for all your digital needs. Instagram doesn’t formally recognize the phrase shadow ban, but it’s nevertheless vital to be aware that the social media platform has deprioritized accounts in the past and still does, occasionally for mysterious reasons. However, even if your content is impacted, recovery is still feasible.
In the long run, maintaining consistent activity on the platform and nurturing the audience you’ve already built is crucial. Regardless of being affected by potential shadow banning, your long-term strategy and engagement with your audience matters. Hopefully, this guide has shed some light on the shadow ban phenomenon and how to test for it. For more in-depth information on Instagram growth, feel free to explore our comprehensive guides.