Instagram Adds a Tool to Check If your Posts Are Getting Restricted From a Wider Audience

Instagram has added an official tool that helps you understand if any of your posted content could be causing your account to be restricted from a wider audience, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today on the platform.

The tool builds upon the existing 'Account Status' function that reveals whether any of your posts violates the app's content guidelines and may be why your content is being held back from appearing to a wider audience.

Instagram will now tell you if you are shadowbanned

The new tool allows users to know whether any of their content breaches the community guidelines or even the stricter recommendations guidelines, which factors into posts appearing in places like the Explore tab or to users who don't follow you.

Mosseri said breaching these unpublished rules can cause accounts to be withheld from appearing to non-followers. That means only people who actively follow the account will see the posts, which will limit the reach of such accounts.

How to check if your posts are being limited

To check if your account is being limited by Instagram, go to the Settings Menu, then Account status. You will find a summary of any of your posts considered to be in violation of Instagram's guidelines, with options to take action to resolve the issue. You can either edit or delete an offering post, or if you feel it's wrongly highlighted, can even appeal against it.

The tool also reveals how Instagram's policies work, and what happens when you break them.

Instagram users are not happy with the tool

While the tool is a great way to see if your account is shadowbanned by Instagram, users replying to Mosseri's post aren't too happy. The new tool does not deal with a common situation when an account's content does not even appear to users who follow the account.

Users replying to Mosseri's post talked about drops in engagement in their posts, even if they have not broken any of the guidelines of the platform. They are also highlighting that the rules are applied inconsistently, where on one account the content is deemed allowable, while on another, it is banned, even if it is the same content.