How to check if your account has a problem (shadowban)

If it feels like “my reach suddenly dropped,” you can suspect a shadowban (exposure limit). Here’s how to check whether your account has a problem.

What is a shadowban?

It’s a state where your account isn’t suspended, but your exposure quietly drops in hashtags, the Explore tab, and so on. Followers can still see you, but new people barely do.

Check it like this

• Hashtag exposure: From a non-follower account, search a specific hashtag — do your posts show up?
• Reach stats: In Insights, did reach to ‘non-follower accounts’ drop sharply?
• Recent behavior: Any excessive follows/likes/comments in a short time, or use of banned hashtags?

How to recover

Stop the suspicious activity and dial back automation and bulk actions for a few days. Clean up banned or spammy hashtags, and focus on genuine interaction — it gradually recovers.