By now, everyone has heard of Instagram’s rumored and mysterious shadowban. You know, that weird thing that happens where your engagement suddenly drops, you lose countless followers, and your posts don’t show up in hashtag search results?
Over the past few years, Instagram users have struggled to understand the shadowban and its causes. Why does it happen? How do we prevent it? And most of all, why won’t Instagram just admit that shadowbanning is actually a thing?
Despite overwhelming proof from users that their accounts have been shadowbanned, Instagram has remained steadfast that it does not block its users' content. So what does it all mean when Instagram says they don’t shadowban but thousands of users believe they do? Maybe there’s a much simpler explanation.
Today, we hope to get to the bottom of it. Or at very best, shed some light on shadowbanning and actions you can take to avoid it.