You‘re deep in an Instagram scroll sprint – liking, commenting, and following to your heart‘s content. When suddenly…the dreaded notification pops up:
"Your account has been temporarily restricted. We limit how often you can do certain things on Instagram, to protect our community."
If you‘re an avid Instagrammer, getting action-blocked can feel like the ultimate buzzkill. But before you spiral, take a deep breath. Nearly 95,000 accounts face restrictions each day – you‘re not alone.
This article will share insider tips to get your account back up to speed. You‘ll also learn how to prevent limitations in the future, protect your brand, and ensure your followers continue seeing your content.
Let‘s start unraveling Instagram‘s restriction rules.
Why Instagram Restricts Accounts
Instagram isn‘t setting limits to punish you. Their priority is maintaining a safe, spam-free environment.
Account restrictions help them:
- Prevent bot threats and platform misuse
- Stop predatory messaging and harassment
- Reduce influencers buying fake engagements
In the last year alone, Instagram took action on 1.8 million accounts engaged in policy-violating behavior. Their proactive stance keeps the community healthy.
You may have been temporarily restricted for actions like:
- Mass following or commenting
- Aggressively liking posts
- Sending too many messages
- Using third-party promotion apps
Luckily, most limitations only last between 2-24 hours. They‘re meant to slow – not stop – your momentum.
What Gets You Temporarily Restricted?
Understanding exactly which activities trigger limitations can help you prevent future issues. Let‘s explore specifics for major restriction triggers:
Aggressive Following
- The Limit: No more than 60 follows per hour
- Prevention: Schedule follows during peak engagement windows
- Impact: Halts your ability to find new audiences
Aggressive following is extremely common. Over 20% of social media managers admit they‘ve blitzed followed an audience, only to get swiftly restricted.
While the temptation to rapidly expand your reach is understandable, restraint wins here. Limit follow sprees to no more than 60 users per 60 minutes. Schedule them during peak evening engagement windows for lower risk.
Mass Commenting
- The Limit: No more than 30 comments per hour
- Prevention: Spread comments over multiple days
- Impact: Throttles your audience engagement
Comment blitzes can skyrocket post impressions. But move too fast, and you‘ll activate limitations. The magic number is around 30 thoughtful comments per hour.
Temporarily throttling your ability to comment removes a valuable audience connection point. Save mass engagement for your best-performing content and pace your remarks.
Aggressive Liking
- The Limit: No more than 300 likes per hour
- Prevention: Use IG scheduling tools
- Impact: Stalls new discovery potential
For maximum visibility, flavor your feed with strategic likes. Just don‘t go overboard. Stick near 300 likes per hour, leveraging scheduling tools like Hootsuite to space out activity.
Getting like-limited cuts off an important growth avenue. Every post you double-tap expands the reach of both pieces of content. Don‘t let restrictions inhibit mutually beneficial discovery.
How Long Do Instagram Restrictions Last?
Wondering how long you‘ll stay in time out after getting restricted? Duration depends on a few factors:
- Severity of violation
- Frequency of offenses
- Type of rule-breaking actions
Here‘s a breakdown of average restriction duration:
- Minor (first-time): 2-12 hours
- Moderate: 12-48 hours
- Severe/Repeated: 48+ hours – permanent
Most first-time mass liking or commenting offenses last less than half a day. But regularly pushing the limits can lead to month-long – or indefinite – bans.
Activity type also plays a role. Trying to artificially boost followers could trigger permanent limitations. While liking too frequently may only get a few hours time-out.
Impacts on Content Creators
What happens when restrictions kick an influencer‘s account into lockdown? More than they might expect.
Every hour an account sits limited, they forfeit:
- 21% of normal reach
- 24% of regular post engagement
- Nearly 650 impressions
For serial offenders, restrictions devastate momentum. After just 1 week of stunted activity, long-term reach suffers by around 11%.
Maintenance limitations drain marketing ROI. But understanding their digital fingerprints can help brands avoid accidental lock-outs.
Fixing "We Limit" Errors
Alright – you slipped up and face restrictive chaos. Before panicking, try these Instagram insider approved troubleshooting tips:
Refresh Your Connection
For starters, force close and reopen the Instagram app. This clears any glitches triggering repeat errors.
Still seeing issues? Uninstall then redownload the app from your device‘s store. Reinstalling resets corrupted data that can silently restrict activity behind the scenes.
Sign In With Caution
Many restrictions link back to suspicious login attempts.
Log completely out of Instagram before attempting to sign in again. Be wary of third party apps requiring password access too – connecting may automatically flag your account.
Entering credentials on a device with previous login issues can exacerbate restrictions. Tread carefully.
Change Your Password
Speaking of credentials – changing your password gives access logs a fresh start. Old or reused passwords get flagged as high risk.
Visit your profile, tap Edit Profile, scroll to Change Password and reset. Use a unique, complex password and enable two-factor authentication for extra security.
Act Organically
If restrictions started after you bulk engaged content, try a more measured pace. Distribute likes, follows and comments over days instead of hours.
Consistently space out activity spikes. This prevents anti-spam measures from clipping your wings.
Contact Instagram Support
Submitting feedback directly to Instagram Support can accelerate the review process for stubborn restrictions. Especially permanent and repeat offenses.
Be detailed in descriptions. Provide your username, explain recent actions before limiting, and outline troubleshooting attempts. Patience is key, but most reviews conclude within 72 hours.
Start Fresh
In rare, persistent cases, your current account may end up permanently limited. Before losing all hope, consider creating a new profile.
Use an updated email address on the fresh account and avoid linking it publicly to previously banned accounts. This gives your content a clean slate with restrictions lifted.
Avoid Future Instagram Restrictions
With insider restriction knowledge, you can take proactive measures to prevent limitations:
- Set posting schedules to space out activity
- Limit third party app connections
- Report shady behavior from other accounts
- Avoid buying fake followers or automated services
- Practice organic engagement habits
Staying within reasonable daily limits keeps your account‘s reputation – and reach – high:
- Ideal following: 30-60 users per hour
- Ideal posts liked: 100-300 per hour
- Ideal commenting: 15-25 per hour
It‘s understandable to want rocket ship Instagram growth. But sustainable success requires authentic community connections.
Steer clear of sketchy growth hacks or blind mass engagement tactics. Building strong relationships protects your brand…and your account access.
Maintain Account Freedom
A single restrictive slip up can momentarily hobble Instagram creators. But most limitations last just hours with minimal long term effects.
Arm yourself with transparency around triggering behaviors and schedule tools to prevent mass engagement run-offs.
Stick to daily action limits, emphasize organic connection, and you‘ll maintain account freedom to build your audience on your terms.
Instagram restrictions aim to cultivate quality, trustworthy experiences – not penalize creators. So shake off the discouragement. And get back to content sharing with security and strategic vision.
Your community awaits!
