Instagram Rules, Restrictions, and Limits

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks on a global scale. With over 1 billion monthly active users and the growing popularity of Instagram influencer marketing, there is huge potential to reach your target audience and build a reputation on the platform. 

That said, it’s important that while you do so, you stay in line with Instagram rules, limits, and restrictions. Instagram takes a variety of steps to protect the integrity of their platform, and this is one of the reasons why they’ve seen such great success. 

In order to provide a positive user experience, Instagram is very intent on enforcing their terms of use as well as their community guidelines. Along with both come different rules that you must follow if you want to keep your account open and in good standing. 

Instagram implements rules and limits on different things, including likes, comments, DMs, follow/unfollow, content, and more. 

As an Instagram user, it’s important that you’re aware of Instagram rules and restrictions so that you can avoid any bans or blocks, as well as continue to get high engagement and grow your follower count

While it’s common knowledge that engaging with your target audience can help you generate more interest in your profile and get more followers + engagement, if you don’t do so within the limits, you are putting your account at risk. 

Instagram targets spam and mass engagement, so this article will help you understand those limits and rules to keep your account on the up and up. 

Instagram Offers Pre-Ban Warnings 

Instagram Warnings 

In the past, Instagram users would be banned without any prior warning or notification, even when users claimed that they didn’t violate any of Instagram’s terms or rules. 

Now, you can put aside the worry, as Instagram now has notifications that alert users when suspicious or unsavory activity is performed on your account. This policy was changed in 2019 when Instagram adjusted their disabling policy. 

Instagram only bans accounts that have violated a percentage of Instagram’s guidelines and terms. The process is very clear and calculated, and there’s no getting past it. 

Instagram will send you a notification if you have breached their policy to warn you that you are at risk of having further action, such as a ban, taken on your profile. 

The notification will let you know that there has been a violation and how you should act in order to prevent Instagram from shutting down your account. 

The good news is that Instagram is doing all of this to make their platform a more inclusive and fair place for all of its users.

The change in Instagram’s ban policy can help people to feel that Instagram cares about them and also help parents to feel good about their children using the platform. Better, at least. 

“We Limit how Often You Can Do Certain Things on Instagram to Protect the Community.” 

If you breach any of the Instagram engagement limits, you’ll receive a message that reads like the one above. This is the error that indicates you’ve done something against the Instagram rules and restrictions. 

All engagements, including likes, comments, follows, unfollows, and DMs are subject to limits. These are not specific limitations that the user is aware of, but Instagram keeps track of that internally to know when an account is doing something that is suspicious or unusual. 

If you receive this message, you will be barred from taking the particular action on Instagram for a while. For instance, if you liked too many posts on Instagram, you won’t be able to like more content for a period of a few days to a week. 

Instagram will remove this block once the period has expired; it can even take up to two weeks. Instagram lets you know how long you need to wait when they apply a block to your account for taking certain actions.  

What Content is Not Permitted on Instagram? 

Not only does Instagram implement engagement limits, but they also have different rules related to content and what you can post. The following subjects you should avoid using on Instagram at all times, as these go directly against the Instagram rules and Instagram community guidelines

Avoid posting content including the following: 

  • Buying and selling alcohol 
  • Buying and selling tobacco 
  • Buying and selling firearms or weapons 
  • Illegal prescription drugs (regardless of legality in your area) 
  • Sale of live animals 
  • Gambling and online betting 
  • Sexual content and nudity 
  • Hate speech and content that incites bullying 
  • Blackmailing or harassment 
  • Threats of physical violence, financial harm, vandalism, etc. 
  • Encouraging violence 
  • Encouraging self-harm or suicide 
  • Videos of extreme violence 

All of the above are strictly forbidden on Instagram and if your content includes all or some of the above, it will be removed promptly. If you continue to violate these terms and community guidelines, your Instagram profile will be banned. 

Instagram is especially strict about drug sales, sexual solicitation, and human trafficking, so make sure that you don’t post any content about these topics. The accounts are banned immediately after detecting this type of content. 

Not only that, content of this nature isn’t good for your reputation, so it’s likely you should avoid the above subjects altogether. 

Instagram Pre-Ban Warnings 

What Should You Do if Someone Violates the Instagram Community Guidelines? 

Instagram employs a team that checks the reports and flags that are submitted by users, and if they do confirm that there’s been a violation, the content will be removed. 

You can report posts or users whenever you see something that violates Instagram’s policy or terms. 

Instagram does allow users to appeal the decision and give an explanation as to why they’ve shared the content. This can be done both through the Instagram app as well as from the help center. 

New Instagram Restrictions on Weight Loss and Cosmetic Surgery Ads 

In order to protect both the physical and mental health of users on the platform, Instagram has decided to restrict ads that harm people in relation to weight loss and cosmetic surgery. 

If you follow any fitness accounts or influencers, you may remember a time when there were tons of ads out there for weight loss products and surgeries. The good news is that you’ll see less of this type of content in your feed due to Instagram’s new approach. 

There has been a lot of criticism about how Instagram impacts people’s self-image, so this is one reason for the type of control that Instagram has implemented in relation to this content. 

The new guidelines ensure that weight loss products can only be shown to Instagram users that are older than 18. You can also report content if you find that anyone under 18 still has access to this type of content. 

Instagram Engagement Limitations and Other Caps 

So, what exactly are the Instagram engagement limits? 

Well, users are never actually informed about what their account limits are, and Instagram has never made an official statement about follow limits, comment limits, like limits, or any other limits, for that matter. 

Each account has a predetermined limit based on a variety of different factors, including previous account activities that are normal for your account. 

There are different factors that play into this which can help you to make a determination about how high your Instagram limits may be: 

  • The age of your Instagram account
  • The number of followers you have 
  • Your account’s typical activity
  • Your account’s engagement levels 

If your Instagram account is newer, you will have more limitations. Similarly, if you have very low levels of engagement or hardly interact with other users, when you inflate that number, your account is at risk of breaching the limits. 

Instagram looks at your general behaviors and can identify when there is something that is unusual, helping them to identify who is trying to be dishonest about their Instagram interactions or spam other accounts on the platform. 

Below we’ll give you some of the standards that are the most common for Instagram accounts and different engagements.

Instagram Follow / Unfollow Limits 

Follow / Unfollow

Following and unfollowing both count as the same action no matter which one you do. The standard daily limit is 200 follows and unfollows. If you engage in 10 follows/unfollowers hourly, your account will remain safe and won’t be suspended for this activity. 

There is no limit on how many people can follow you, so that won’t hurt you at all. 

If you want to implement the follow/unfollow strategy, you should begin gradually and increase week over week. 

For instance: 

  • First week: follow/unfollow 50 accounts daily 
  • Second week: follow/unfollow 100 accounts daily 
  • Third week: follow/unfollow 150 accounts daily 

You don’t want your activity to appear as spam, so keep that in mind. 

Instagram Like Limits 

The Instagram likes limit is 1,000 per day on average, but keep in mind it isn’t the same for all accounts. 

If you want to keep your account safe and active, you should perhaps start out with roughly 700 likes per day so that you don’t go over the Instagram limit. 

Start to increase the engagements slowly and that way you won’t trigger a flag from within the Instagram system. 

Instagram Comment Limits 

For comments, you can leave about 180 to 200 on a daily basis. It’s also good to make sure and leave a variety of different comments and not leave the same one repeatedly. Instagram can identify duplicate comments and may punish your account for doing so. 

If you do decide to leave repeated comments, you should change them once in a while to add variety. Emojis can also be flagged as spam if they don’t contain any text. 

Instagram DM Limits 

Instagram DM Limits 

You’ll be in the clear if you send roughly 50 to 80 DMs per day. Ensure that you’re not spamming your followers with salesly messages or you will likely diminish your reputation and put yourself in a negative light. 

Instagram Caption / Comment Character Limits 

Instagram users can add up to 2200 characters in captions as well as in comments. You don’t always have to include a long Instagram caption, but longer captions typically give more insight into your Instagram post and can help to connect with your followers. 

Instagram Hashtag Limits 

Instagram hashtags are a vital part of growing your account, and you should choose them wisely, as you’re only allowed to use up to 30 per post. While that’s the max, it has been discussed that the best range of hashtag use is anywhere between 3-11 hashtags. 

Instagram Story Limits 

If you share too many Instagram stories, you may get your account flagged due to breaking Instagram rules, as it will come off as spammy and unnatural. You can have up to 100 active stories at a time. 

Instagram Tag Limits 

Tagging users in your Instagram posts can help you to get attention from other users and even potentially get featured on their accounts. You can tag up to 20 people in any given Instagram post. Tag users before you post your photo; if you forget, you can edit the post and tag them there. 

Instagram Mention Limits 

You’ll be able to mention up to 10 Instagram users per post. Mentions are not quite the same as tags; when you mention a user, you use an @ symbol followed by their username to mention them within a caption or a comment. 

Instagram IGTV Limits 

Instagram IGTV

IGTV rolled out in 2018, and since then, it’s been a popular feature to gain more attention from your followers and viewers as well as offer them a different content format. You can create videos up to 10 minutes; verified accounts get up to 60 minutes. 

Instagram Sharing Photo and Video Limits 

Instagram takes copyright and intellectual property very seriously, and you aren’t allowed to copy content and share it as your own. You should be very careful if you want to share content on Instagram that isn’t yours. 

You should always mention the original poster in your Instagram post as well as give the proper credit when you use someone else’s photos or videos. 

In addition, you can’t post any content with nudity on Instagram, but it is allowed in painted photos as well as sculptures and other art forms. 

Instagram Story Highlight Limits 

When you post an Instagram story, it will expire after 24 hours. You can then pin it to your Instagram profile in the Instagram story highlight albums. There are no limits set by Instagram for how many stories and story highlight albums you can have, so that’s good news. 

Instagram Username Character Limit 

Instagram restrictions also apply to usernames, and you can include up to 30 characters in your username. You can also use numbers and special characters. 

Instagram Bio Character Limit 

Your Instagram bio is limited to 150 characters and one clickable link. This is why people use link in bio tools such as linktr.ee or linkin.bio to help share multiple links at the same time. 

Instagram Daily Post Limitations 

Unlike Instagram stories, there is no limit to how many posts you can upload to Instagram in a day. Even still, you want to be careful about overloading your followers’ feed with your content. It’s better to spread your posts out over a couple days.

You can safely post 3-5 photos daily, but more than that may seem a bit much, even if you’re trying to build up your account. 

Note: if you’re a new Instagram user, you’ll likely have a total action limit of 500 per day. This is a combination of all likes, comments, follows, and unfollows. Your DM limit will be around 20 to 50 per day. 

How to Keep Your Instagram Within Limits

Instagram

While it may seem a bit overwhelming at first, you can stay within Instagram limits if you are smart and know how to manage your workflow. It also seems overwhelming to have to do all of these actions yourself, which is why there is a better option out there to help you stay within Instagram limits and restrictions. 

Use an Organic Instagram Growth Service 

Using an organic growth service like Growthoid can help you to delegate your Instagram engagements and put your growth in the hands of pros that are very familiar with the different limits that Instagram employs. 

This is especially true if you have multiple accounts that you need to grow; things can get tiring fast, and you’ll need to invest a significant amount of time spent in front of the platform if you want to see real results. 

Fortunately, Growthoid is here to help you with that, using cutting-edge AI coupled with expert account managers that know exactly how to create a safe and effective campaign to help you get more Instagram followers

Why Should You Use Growthoid? 

You can take advantage of Instagram growth through automation when you use Growthoid, and you don’t have to worry about putting your account at risk. Growthoid’s services fall within all of Instagram’s rules and limits, so you’ll be completely safe and still get the attention of your target audience. 

Growthoid creates a campaign for you that helps you to get your content in front of your target audience through filtered interactions.

We will input your targeting instructions and only engage with users that meet the criteria so that you get the most relevant, active followers for your Instagram. 

Growthoid keeps your account in line with the Instagram limits so that you don’t have to wonder about how many interactions you’ve done. We keep track of all of that for you and make sure we maximize your results while staying safe. 

Instazood Works for All Account Types 

No matter if your account is part of the fitness niche, fashion, beauty, art, music, or any other, Growthoid’s got you covered. We create custom campaigns based directly on the targeting instructions you provide, which means we are effective regardless of the type of content you post. 

What’s more, you can manage multiple accounts through Growthoid, easing your workload and helping you to grow different accounts without the headache. 

Monitor Your Actions Taken 

Growthoid will take actions on the behalf of your account, which means you won’t have to worry about doing it yourself. That also means that you should minimize the amount of actions you take on your account, since Growthoid is active around the clock. 

Imagine that Growthoid takes 500 daily actions on your behalf, and then you take another 250, and your account was created 5 days ago. That’s enough to breach the Instagram limits and flag some unusual activity. 

The good news is that you can leave everything to Growthoid and you can simply focus on your content creation, captioning, hashtag strategy, profile optimization, as well as on responding to DMs and comments from your users. 

Your account will remain completely safe. You don’t have to do much other than post and keep all of the awesome content coming! 

Final Thoughts: Instagram Rules, Restrictions, and Limitations 

It can be a bit overwhelming when you take a look at all of the different Instagram rules, restrictions, and limits, but it’s actually not too bad. 

If you’re using your Instagram to help further your business efforts, build your reputation, and boost your revenue, you’re not likely to find yourself in violation of the content restrictions because those types of content would simply hurt your reputation. 

In addition, when you work with Growthoid, you don’t even have to worry about the engagement limits, since we take care of that for you. 

If you do happen to break Instagram’s rules, you may find certain actions blocked for a period of time; if you’re a repeat offender, your account could be banned altogether. Don’t find yourself in that position. 

Stay within your limits, keep things natural, stay alert, and try to be as authentic and real as possible— no spam. When you have awesome targeting and a brand voice that you commit to in everything you do, you will be fine. 

You can build a loyal and engaged audience that loves your content, helping your social proof as well as engagement rate. 

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