If you come across an Instagram account that is harassing you, sharing hate and aggressive content, or behaving inappropriately, there are steps that Instagram encourages to draw their attention to the account for monitoring and preventative action.
And it’s not just inappropriate and upsetting content that Instagram seeks to combat. Much of the reporting process is designed to help identify and delete spam accounts and those accounts that have been made by bots – either impersonating existing users or spamming newsfeeds with useless content.
To start the process of getting one of the ese accounts shutdown, either because of inappropriate activity and behaviour, or spam and fraudulent activity, you need to report the account.
Here’s how to do it.
How to Report An Instagram Account
There are a couple of different avenues that you can follow.
The one which leads to the quickest outcomes and resolutions is sending a report via the Instagram Help Centre. This process asks for a full breakdown of the issue and why the account is being reported, with Instagram requesting your name and email address and some form of verification to prove that you are a real user.
The alternative method of reporting an Instagram account is inside the app itself.
To report a profile or account on Instagram, follow these steps:
- Head to the profile that you want to report
- Click on the row of dots in the top right hand corner and select ‘Report’
- A pop up window will ask if you want to report the account itself or a specific post. Follow the relevant steps according to your issue
These reports are anonymous and the account holder (if they are human) will never know that you reported them. However, they will receive a notification that one of their posts, or their activity, has been deemed as inappropriate. For a genuine user, this is a warning that their account will be deleted unless the action is rectified.
How Does Instagram Decide Which Accounts to Delete?
It’s important to note that there is no minimum number of complaints that Instagram needs to receive in order to take action and delete an account. In fact, one report can suffice – so long as the app deems the reported account to be in violation of their terms.
Having said that, multiple reports of a single account can stand out and push the report and the issue to the top of Instagram’s outstanding issues. This is why, especially in the case of fake profiles and fraudulent accounts, you will see that those affected will ask as many of their followers as possible to report the fake account.
Generally, Instagram determines the outcome of a report based on how severe the violation. Those accounts that are the most likely to be swiftly deleted include ones which share violent imagery, unlawful content, and explicit content.
If you want an account to be deleted and removed from Instagram altogether, following the above steps and submitting a full report is the best and most effective way to do so. Alternatively, if you simply no longer want to see their content or allow them to engage with you, you can block and restrict the user so that they can’t message you or see or interact with your posts.
We hope this helps!
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