‘Shadow Banned’ seems to be a term that is popping up more and more in the Instagram Community. Concerned bloggers, influencers and business owners are flocking to Facebook groups to try and determine how and why shadow bans have occurred on their accounts. Currently it seems that hundreds, if not thousands, of Instagram accounts have been effected by shadow banning. But what is a shadow ban, and how do you know if it has happened to you?
Now, we must firstly point out that Instagram has been mucking around with algorithms since their introduction to the platform in June. These changes have seen many accounts take a hit to engagement, with some accounts loosing approx. 50% of their engagement! So just because you have seen a decrease in engagement on your account does not mean you have been shadow banned.
We would define an Instagram Shadow Ban as Instagram’s attempt at filtering out accounts that aren’t complying with their terms of use. The punishment for your non-compliance is that your account will be made to be practically invisible through the removal of your content from hashtag feeds, resulting in a huge decline to your engagement as non-followers are unable to see your content.
So how can you find out if you have been shadow banned? We love the new website Instagram Shadow Ban Tester! The website allows you to enter your Instagram username or a direct URL link for one of your posts and it will determine whether you use any hashtags that may cause your account to be shadow banned. As you can see here at Wise Up Marketing our Instagram account is safe… well just for tonight apparently!
If you think your account may be effected by a shadow ban, get in touch so we can help you lift the ban and get your account back on track!
Alicia
