Has your account been shadow banned? Check here [Guide]

ninjah42

ninjah42

Registered Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
67
Reaction score
21
I'm getting ton of messages about people's accounts losing engagement and not doing as well as before. If you are shadow banned, you will certainly do worse than before.
Here is how you find out:

On your main account post a picture and use a hashtag with low share volume. I used #lasvegas2017, only has about ~4000 related posts. I used my 50k account that will for sure get top likes in that hashtag because right now the top post for #lasvegas2017 is ~300 likes.

Once the picture is posted with that hashtag, go on another account that is NOT following the main account and search for the hashtag #lasvegas2017. In my situation, my picture got 800 likes but it did not show up at all in the hashtag search. If this is the case, you have been shadow banned. This will only work if you are NOT (I repeat NOT) following the main account.

Try again with another hashtag. If it shows the same results, you are definitely shadow banned.

What can I do if I am shadow banned?

Many different possible solutions have been posted before in the forum such as:

1) Deactivating your account for 2 weeks
2) Emailing Instagram support

Note: Neither of these two solutions have been proven.

Best solution?

Start over with another account. Go Manual.

How do I avoid shadow ban?

Don't perform actions on your account like a robot. Don't use obvious engagement groups. Instagram knows your "tactics". Liking 400 users within 1 hour every day at the same time (3 pm)? Nice try.
 
Last edited:
Advertise on BHW
I've got photos that are not shown as top posts on some places, but yet they have way more engagement than the ones that are in. Not on all of my posts, but couple of them and that's been bugging me ever since. Do you think it's shadow ban?
 
HEB said:
I've got photos that are not shown as top posts on some places, but yet they have way more engagement than the ones that are in. Not on all of my posts, but couple of them and that's been bugging me ever since. Do you think it's shadow ban?
Click to expand...

Your followers can see your posts but if you have more likes than the posts in the hashtag and you are not on there then yes, you have been shadow banned.
 
I didn't know about that before

thanks for warning
 
Yup. Experienced this first hand myself.

  • Tried out engagement groups. After about 2weeks I realized my organic following still wasn't increasing, and was in fact, dropping a bit.
  • Then one day I discovered shadow banning.
  • Dropped out of engagement groups about a week ago, and my natural engagement was about half of what is was before, even with a 35% follower increase.
Been struggling ever since, but the natural engagement % is coming back a bit. Could only imagine how great it would've if I hadn't join those groups, but meh; you learn from your mistakes.
 
Nice post! This will definitely help people! I get a lot of messages about this too. I'll start referring people to this thread.
 
i tried engagement groups for a few days to see what the hype was, I stopped because it didn't do anything. More pics went viral when i was liking 1500 pics a day. luckily my account was unaffected and still is.

edit: For a couple of the days i got likes for my main account through another. If you do this and you're in an engagement group then maybe you could avoid a ban?
 
Are you shadow banned if you show up in most recent but not in top posts (when your engagement is higher than a few of the current top posts) when the account is less than a week old or is that just IG trying to stop spammers to get straight into the top?
 
Is there anyway to have the shadow banned lifted?

I had my personal account shadow banned over 4 years ago and since then any new account I create is also automatically shadow banned.

I'm using a totally different device now so I'm surprised to see that I'm still banned.

Has anyone been able to get the ban lifted?
 
DemiGod100 said:
Yup. Experienced this first hand myself.

  • Tried out engagement groups. After about 2weeks I realized my organic following still wasn't increasing, and was in fact, dropping a bit.
  • Then one day I discovered shadow banning.
  • Dropped out of engagement groups about a week ago, and my natural engagement was about half of what is was before, even with a 35% follower increase.
Been struggling ever since, but the natural engagement % is coming back a bit. Could only imagine how great it would've if I hadn't join those groups, but meh; you learn from your mistakes.
Click to expand...
is this with engagement groups on instagram like the Dms or in telegram?
 
I will take a look of this i've never hear about a "shadow ban" thanks for share
 
ninjah42 said:
I'm getting ton of messages about people's accounts losing engagement and not doing as well as before. If you are shadow banned, you will certainly do worse than before.
Here is how you find out:

On your main account post a picture and use a hashtag with low share volume. I used #lasvegas2017, only has about ~4000 related posts. I used my 50k account that will for sure get top likes in that hashtag because right now the top post for #lasvegas2017 is ~300 likes.

Once the picture is posted with that hashtag, go on another account that is NOT following the main account and search for the hashtag #lasvegas2017. In my situation, my picture got 800 likes but it did not show up at all in the hashtag search. If this is the case, you have been shadow banned. This will only work if you are NOT (I repeat NOT) following the main account.

Try again with another hashtag. If it shows the same results, you are definitely shadow banned.

What can I do if I am shadow banned?

Many different possible solutions have been posted before in the forum such as:

1) Deactivating your account for 2 weeks
2) Emailing Instagram support

Note: Neither of these two solutions have been proven.

Best solution?

Start over with another account. Go Manual.

How do I avoid shadow ban?

Don't perform actions on your account like a robot. Don't use obvious engagement groups. Instagram knows your "tactics". Liking 400 users within 1 hour every day at the same time (3 pm)? Nice try.
Click to expand...

Emailing Instagram support will do you no good, they don't know about too much stuff, it's ig's algorithm that punishes people. Deactivating for 2 weeks is it even possible? I know about permanent deletion but I don't know about how to deactivate for 2 weeks.

Best thing (untested) I know is to stop the bot for a month or two, some people recovered their engagement that way
 
mitussj said:
Emailing Instagram support will do you no good, they don't know about too much stuff, it's ig's algorithm that punishes people. Deactivating for 2 weeks is it even possible? I know about permanent deletion but I don't know about how to deactivate for 2 weeks.

Best thing (untested) I know is to stop the bot for a month or two, some people recovered their engagement that way
Click to expand...

only works on browsers

go to your profile, (not on app)
click on edit profile
scroll down
there is an option to temporarily disable my account
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top