Got Reported On Instagram? Follow These Steps To Find Out Who’s The Culprit
There’s no doubt that Instagram is brimming with many nasty profiles that constantly violate the code of conduct and engage in inappropriate activities. However, many of us face suspension and end up in the ‘Instagram jail’ despite following the app’s community guidelines to the T. Bummer, isn’t it? While your account can, at times, face wrongful suspension or ban due to Instagram’s own technical glitches, there are high chances that someone reported you! Instagram takes proper care of its users, giving them all the safety measures in case of any violation. However, sometimes people tend to hit the ‘report’ button on others simply because of personal vendetta. In such scenarios, wouldn’t it be great to know who reported you on Instagram?
Don’t worry, Instagram is smart enough to ignore and dismiss any frivolous report backed by invalid reasoning. But in a pool of more than two billion active monthly users, you don’t know how sensitive someone can be to your content. While Instagram thoroughly investigates each case before banning or suspending an account, in some cases, multiple reports can still lead to account suspensions for no fault of yours. Social media can be really cruel!
While there’s no technical way or application that allows you to check who reported your account, logical reasoning might be your best bet here. Whether it’s recalling your personal issues, checking your followers list or scrolling through your comments section – let’s show you all the ways that’ll help you find out who reported your Instagram account.
Instagram Community Guidelines: What’s not allowed
Before diving into the ways to check who reported your Instagram account, it’s important to know what goes against the community guidelines. Community guidelines of the platform clearly state unacceptable content. Here’s what usually leads to Instagram account bans:
Intellectual property infringement: Not having the rights to the content you’re posting.
Inappropriate imagery: Nudity isn’t allowed, with some exceptions like photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is fine too.
Spam: Sending unwanted e-mails, incessant likes, comments, messages etc.
Illegal content: Supporting/ praising terrorism, organised crimes or hate groups on Instagram. Selling drugs, and firearms or offering sexual services is also prohibited.
Hate Speech, Bullying and Abuse: Anyone inciting violence, hate speech and targeting private individuals will be removed. The platform doesn’t allow attacks or abuse based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability or disease.
Self-injury: Instagram clearly states it’s against “glorification or encouragement of self-injury, including eating disorders. We do allow content that references self-injury and eating disorders if it is for the purpose of creating awareness or signposting support.”
Graphic Violence: Instagram may remove videos/ images showcasing intense, graphic violence to ensure the platform is appropriate for everyone. However, if such content is shared with regard to important and newsworthy events or to educate/ raise awareness, it may be allowed.
Here’s how to find out who reported your Instagram account
1. Go through your followers list
The person who has reported you on Instagram is most likely your follower, closely navigating your posts, comments as well as other activity. The user mightn’t have liked any recent activity of yours, had an altercation with you via the comments section/messages or simply reported you out of personal jealousy – the reasons can be many.
Therefore, it’s very important to filter your interactions on Instagram and remove any dubious accounts which don’t have active users as it could be someone simply spying on you. Even if such an account hasn’t reported you, you must remove them from your follower list.
Another important thing to keep in mind is your follower count. Check out who unfollowed you or blocked you after your content got reported. It might be the same person who committed the deed. Most people who report have fake IDs go about infiltrating others’ lives for no good reason.
2. Go through your Instagram DMs
The person who reports you might have also left some nasty or negative messages in your Instagram DMs. The messages could appear under the name of the ‘user not found on Instagram’ (considering the person has blocked you). If not DMs, you can also check for any dubious messages in your ‘message requests’. Check for any hateful speech or graphic visuals in the conversation requests and feel free to report them instead.
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3. Go through your recent comments
If someone has reported you after you posted new content on your Instagram handle, make sure to check the comments section for clues. Check all the comments on your relatively recent posts and figure out if there’s a trail of negative statements from a particular handle as this person might’ve been harbouring hatred for a long time.
Despite whoever reports you, if there’s any lack or breach in your content that might hurt an individual or a community, it’s high time you take responsibility for your actions and revise your feed accordingly!
Hope this guide helps you navigate your Instagram dilemma!
(Hero image credit: Andrea Piacquadio/ Pexels)
(Feature image credit: lacerdabh/ Freepik)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do you find who reported you on Instagram?
You can figure out who reported you on Instagram by investigating your recent comments, DMs as well as followers list.
What happens when you report someone’s Instagram account?
When you report an account, the Instagram team will find out whether or not the reported user violates their community guidelines. In case they do, Instagram will hide/remove the content or ban their profile.
What happens when someone restricts you on Instagram?
When someone restricts you on Instagram, your messages won’t appear in their DMs. Instead, they’ll appear in their message requests section.
When you report someone on Instagram is it anonymous?
Yes, it is anonymous.
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong
