Have you just discovered that Instagram deleted your account for what seems to be no reason at all? If so, this can be a frustrating and worrisome experience, especially because you may rely on Instagram for revenue generation and brand awareness.
If your Instagram account is deleted, you may be wondering why this happened and you can restore your account.
The main challenge in understanding the rationale behind the deletion is that Instagram doesn’t state why your account was deleted.
Is it because you violated some of their Terms of Use or Community Guidelines? Did your account generate suspicious activity?
Have you been spamming people?
You’ll only see a generic popup to alert you of your Instagram account deletion, which leaves you to do the rest of the guesswork as to what happened.
Not only that, it may have been a mistake altogether that your Instagram account was deleted.
If you relied on Instagram for your brand or business, it’s likely that you’d spent hours and perhaps even your money to grow your Instagram account, and now it has all disappeared.
You’re not alone in this, as many other Instagram users have experienced this very thing. The good news is that there are methods to help you get your Instagram account back.
We will go over some of the different methods in this article, as well as more information about Instagram account deletion.
Let’s take a look.
How Do You Tell if Your Instagram Account Has Been Deleted?
The first sign that your Instagram account was deleted is that you won’t be able to log into it.
Instead of allowing you to log in, you’ll get a message that says something along the lines of “your account has been disabled for violating Instagram’s terms.”
You can also gain insight into whether or not an Instagram account has been deleted by searching for the username.
If you try to find the profile and a User Not Found error comes up, this indicates your account is likely deleted.
When you do this for someone else’s account, if it doesn’t come up, it may be because their account was deleted or they blocked your account.
Instagram Deleted My Account for No Reason
Now that we know how to recognize a deleted Instagram account, we want to think about why your account may have been removed in the first place.
The main reasons for Instagram account deletion is because you’ve violated their Terms of Use and/or Community guidelines, or it was a mistake.
Violating the policies set forth by Instagram is a serious offense and they do not take it lightly.
They want to protect the integrity of their platform, and even if you may not feel like you did anything wrong, it may go against IG’s Terms of Use.
Illegal activities will definitely get your account deleted, which includes promoting terrorism, crimes, or hate groups, as well as selling illegal goods and services via Instagram.
Inappropriate content is also a big no-no on Instagram and can get your account removed pretty quickly.
This harms the user experience greatly and Instagram will remove any accounts that violate content policy.
Your content can be marked as inappropriate if it is found to be against guidelines by a team member of Instagram, or perhaps if one of your followers or Instagram users reports it to the platform.
This will flag your content and send it to Instagram for review; if they find that you are in violation, they will typically disable your account before outright deleting it.
The warning will come through an in-app notification.
You could appeal this decision if you feel that it was made in the wrong, avoiding Instagram account deletion altogether.
Posting threats that lead to death or injury is also justification for your Instagram account being deleted. Some threats include committing, advocating for, or intending violence, as well as promoting suicide or self-harm.
You can reference the full Instagram Community Guidelines for more information, but if you feel you haven’t done anything wrong, you might find that your Instagram account was deleted by mistake.
How to Restore a Deleted Instagram Account
If you’re looking to restore a deleted Instagram account, you should visit the Instagram Help Center and fill out the form “My Instagram Account Was Deactivated.”
You’ll follow the series of questions on the page and then you will need to send your request so that Instagram can review it.
If your account is a business, product, or service, you’ll need to provide verification for the business by submitting one of these:
- Tax filing
- Local business license
- Invoice
- Certificate of Formation
- Articles of Incorporation
- Order fulfillment documentation
- Proof of domain name
Keep in mind that this form will only work if your Instagram account was disabled by someone outside of your account.
If someone used your account to permanently delete your Instagram account, it cannot be restored.
If you or someone that has access to your account deletes the Instagram account voluntarily, the account will be completely removed from Instagram’s database and cannot be restored even through a request.
Your account can potentially be recovered if it was disabled by mistake or by Instagram itself, so you’ll want to fill out the aforementioned form.
Here’s the step-by-step guide on how to fill it out:
- Open the link and access the form
- If your Instagram represents a business, product or service, choose Yes, otherwise choose No.
- Fill in your full name, Instagram username, email address, and country.
- Submit the required information to verify your business (listed above) in JPEG format.
- Hit Send.
You will then wait for Instagram to contact you in regards to your account. They could reply back to you within a few hours or even after a few days; you’ll just need to wait it out. This is the proven method to get back a deleted Instagram account.
How Long Until Instagram Deletes Your Account?
Other than for violations, Instagram will not delete your account without your permission.
If you’ve violated the terms, it could be disabled, or if you request to delete your Instagram account Instagram will fulfill that wish. This is done on the Delete Your Account page.
Even if your Instagram account has been inactive since the day you created it, Instagram will not delete it unless you request them to.
After your account has been requested for deletion, it could take up to 30 days for the request to be fully processed.
After your Instagram account is deleted, you cannot get it back. Be sure that you want your account permanently deleted. If not, you can deactivate it temporarily.
Because a request to delete your Instagram is permanent, you need to be selective with whom you share your login information.
If a previous employee or spiteful ex has access to your account, they could request your account to be deleted and you’ll be left with no way to retrieve it.
It’s a good idea to regularly limit outside access to your Instagram account and only share login information when it is necessary. Change your password as well.
Do Reported Instagram Accounts Get Deleted?
If a user of Instagram reports your Instagram profile or content, it won’t automatically cause Instagram account deletion. This simply sends the content or profile for further review by Instagram.
Not all accounts that are reported get deleted. In fact, Instagram may find that your content was completely acceptable and no action will be taken by them to suspend your content.
The only time action will be taken is if Instagram finds your content or profile to go against the Terms of Use or Community Guidelines.
It’s vital that you become familiar with the rules and regulations so that you don’t breach their policies.
If you come across a profile or piece of content that you feel has violated Instagram’s rules, you can report it yourself.
Here’s how to report a post on Instagram:
- Tap the three dots at the top-right of the Instagram post
- Click Report
- Choose the correct option for why you are reporting it, likely that it is Spam/It’s Inappropriate.
This will submit your report to Instagram and the content will be reviewed.
Instagram will notify you of their findings; either the post will be taken down, further action will be taken on the account, or they will explain why they did nothing.
Generally speaking, accounts with a first-time warning will not be deactivated.
They will receive a warning from Instagram telling them that their post went against guidelines and that they should not do it again.
If the account continues to breach the Terms of Use, Instagram will likely disable this account.
There isn’t a specific number of reports that an account needs in order to be disabled, so it may depend on how offensive or wrong the posts were for Instagram to delete them.
Let’s say that your content was flagged and reported by 100 users that didn’t like it— if Instagram finds it was within the Community Guidelines, nothing will happen and your account will remain exactly the same.
Final Thoughts: Instagram Deleted My Account for No Reason
While most of the time Instagram accounts are disabled due to inappropriate content or activity, it can also happen by mistake, which is why you should keep track of all of your actions on the platform and abide by the rules of Instagram.
With over 1.393 billion monthly active users, the review process and response times from Instagram support and moderators can be quite lengthy.
It’s best to avoid this situation and always put out high-quality, on-brand content that will satisfy your followers and not offend them.
Doing so will also help you grow your Instagram in the long run!
