I’ve literally spent the last several days trying to restore my deactivated Instagram account. I don’t know what happened. I am minding my own business, and the next thing I know I cannot log-in to my Instagram. I try to log back in and I get this Error Message that my Instagram account is deactivated for violating their Community Guidelines!
What?! I’ve done no such thing! I even clicked their Community Guidelines link and reviewed it and verified I did nothing that was against their terms. This is a terrible mistake!
The most frustrating thing about this is that there is no specific information to tell you what happened. Every inquiry leads you to their generic Help forum which is useless when you need SPECIFIC help, like, when your Instagram account was disabled for some specific reason and you don’t know why.
You start looking for outreach and there is no customer support information anywhere. I tried Googling some customer support contact information and even when you find email addresses online and you reach-out, you get these automated messages back which are not helpful at all.
I Googled so much that I even found an old Instagram customer support phone number and you don’t need to bother contacting it because it only re-directs you to go to their Help forum online. Useless.
So here are the 5 places where you can go to try to restore your deactivated Instagram account…
Restore Path #1 – Log-In Attempt Error Message
1. Attempt to log-in and when you get the Error Message select the “Learn More” link.
2. On the “Learn More About Your Account” page, there is a “let us know” link where you can tell them that this was a mistake.
3. The “let us know” link will take you to the “My Instagram Account Was Deactivated” Form.
4. Complete this “My Instagram Account was Deactivated” form.
5. You’ll receive an auto-email asking for proof that you are you.
6. Send them the requested proof.
7. Wait.
Restore Path #2 – Forgot Password
1. On the log-in screen, select the “Forgot password?” link.
2. On the “Trouble Logging in?” page, select the “Need more help?” link.
3. The “Need more help?” link will take you to a Request Support Form.
4. Complete the Request Support Form.
5. You’ll receive an auto-email asking for proof that you are you.
6. Send them the requested proof.
7. Wait.
Restore Path #3 – Direct Link
There is a direct link that will take you to the appeal form, and you can try this as well and not bother with either of the above navigation paths: https://help.instagram.com/contact/606967319425038?ref=cr
All 3 of the above restore paths will deliver the following auto-email to you…
The Auto-Email You Will Receive
The auto-email you receive via the above 3 reporting avenues is the same. It basically asks you for a selfie with some identifying information about yourself.
Just make sure that you follow their instructions here perfectly. And then you wait. I’ve been waiting a total of 5 days and I haven’t heard a peep. This is terrible customer service from a company that makes BILLIONS of dollars off of us. I’m not happy.
Restore Path #4 – Meta Accounts Center
This restore attempt is not possible via your mobile device or via the app. This restore attempt you will need to log-in directly on your computer. And, this restore attempt is only available if you had previously connected your Instagram account to your Facebook account. I found it by accident when I was looking for support help on my Facebook, since I knew that my Instagram was linked to it and perhaps there was a different way.
1. You will need to log-in to your Facebook on your desktop/laptop computer.
2. Go to your Facebook Settings.
3. In your Facebook Settings, scroll all the way to the bottom of all your options – there are alot!
4. At the bottom is a logo for Meta, and you can click on the “Accounts Center” link.
5. Here, you will see your Instagram account listed with the Status of “Disabled”.
6. You can click on your Instagram account here and it will open a “Reactivate” option for you!
7. Good luck! Unfortunately, when I clicked the “Reactivate” button I got a “page cannot be displayed” error message. I’m still sharing this path with you in case it works for you – perhaps they fix it soon or perhaps there is a setting on my computer that caused it to glitch.
Restore Path #5 – Direct Emails
I’ve found several email addresses for Facebook and Instagram support, and I’ve emailed all of them. I never received an “Undeliverable” message from any of them, so I assume they all arrived at their destination, which may or may not be monitored. But if you are desperate like me, then it is worth a try. So far, I received a couple of auto-email responses back, but no real help by this method, but perhaps you will have better luck than me. The email addresses are:
support@fb.com
disabled@fb.com
appeals@fb.com
platformcs@support.facebook.com
abuse@fb.com
Anyhow, so this is what I’ve been experiencing since Wednesday when I first discovered my deactivated Instagram account. I’m so upset. But I’m especially upset that Instagram has basically been ghosting me and I have ZERO information to work with. Being left in the dark is worse than this mistake happening in the first place. Because they could’ve made it right for me.
I’ve been spending alot of time researching on my own, why Instagram would deactivate my account without warning, and I’ve posted my findings here: 7 Surprising Reasons Your Instagram Was Deactivated.
Oh no 🙁 that’s so strange…
Instagram help is virtually non-existence. Although I do understand that a helpline catering to billions across the world must be difficult but it is SO frustrating since their help pages aren’t very helpful either.
Something similar happened with my sister a few months back. Unfortunately in her case, her IG was hacked and the hackers were using it to spam people with messages leading to her account being disabled. 🤦 She went through the same ordeal!
That’s terrible. It sucks that they don’t have a way for you to get actual help.
Oh no! Hope it’s sorted
That’s rather rubbish – have you got it back yet?