Instagram users report widespread account suspensions
Many Instagram users woke up Monday to a notification that their accounts had been suspended for violating community guidelines. Within a couple of hours, some reported that their access had been restored.
Unable to post Halloween photos on the app, users sought answers on Twitter and other platforms, with many of them saying they had no idea what the violations cited by Instagram could have been.
Christine Pai, a spokesperson for Meta, the app’s parent company, confirmed that users in different parts of the world were having issues accessing their accounts.
“We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize for the inconvenience,” she said in an email.
The company did not say how many people were affected by the suspensions.
Many noted that this issue was distinct from past outages on the photo-sharing platform, as they were notified that their accounts had been suspended rather than just being unable to access them.
Users who received the notification were given the option to appeal the decision within 30 days. “If we can’t confirm your account, it will be permanently disabled,” the notice read.
When trying to follow the appeal process, users were logged out of their accounts and unable to log back in, they reported on Twitter and other sites. Some said that glitches were affecting their usage of the app before Monday morning, but that the issues were not as widespread.
The website Downdetector.com, where users can report outages, showed that reports of an issue started around 9 a.m. Eastern time.
Those reports were beginning to decline sharply by noon.
By late morning, many users started to report that things were working normally again and that their photos and access had been restored.
Social media outages like this one usually do not last for long. Last month, Instagram said that a confirmed outage had been resolved within an hour.
Meta’s stock price fell about 5% in early trading Monday, after opening at $98.21. The company has had a turbulent year: By Friday’s close, Meta’s stock price had plunged more than 70% this year. In July, the social media company reported its first revenue decline since going public, and it has continued to post slowing growth. This month, it reported that its profits had slumped 52% from a year earlier.
Chris Perry, a real estate agent in Arlington, Virginia, noticed that he was losing dozens of followers by the minute Monday morning, before his account was suspended. His Instagram account, which had about 45,000 followers, helps him connect with potential buyers and sellers.
“It’s a big concern of mine, not being able to get back in,” he said. “If it’s not up right now, it’s not a huge deal. I can wait. If it’s permanently deleted, that’s a big part of my business.”
For Beth Bourdon, a public defender in Orlando, Florida, Instagram is for fun, not work. The issues with her app started Sunday night when the app continuously crashed as she tried to scroll through her feed, she said, but her account was never suspended.
“I have a lot of friends who have small children, and they live for Halloween,” she said. “They go all out, so I know they want to be posting their Halloween photos.”