Using relevant Instagram hashtags is an essential factor to increasing your engagement and getting your content out to more people. It also aids Instagram's algorithm in determining the nature of your content so that it may be shown to the appropriate audience.
However, this doesn't mean that all hashtags are beneficial. Banned Instagram hashtags are those that the Instagram community has flagged or reported for a variety of reasons.
So, it's critical that you keep track of which ones you are utilizing. You don't want to use a banned Instagram hashtag by mistake since it might undermine your entire Instagram marketing strategy.
If your Instagram account hasn't grown much despite employing a comprehensive marketing strategy with various hashtags and other organic growth tactics, you might be mistakenly using banned Instagram hashtags.
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What are banned Instagram hashtags?
Banned Instagram hashtags are hashtags that have been flagged by Instagram users as being used in posts that violate Instagram's standards.
Also, hashtags can be banned by Instagram because bots and spammers have heavily used them. This means that every post that includes banned Instagram hashtags will be buried deep down, limiting your organic reach and social media growth.
You can check the Instagram Community Guideline to better understand the reasons behind the banned Instagram hashtags.
All in all, the reason you should avoid using banned Instagram hashtags is because Instagram may perceive your account as a spammer or an account violating their community rules.
Unfortunately, using banned Instagram hashtags may result in your account being shadowbanned. On Instagram, a shadowban implies your account has been temporarily restricted. So, a shadowban can significantly reduce your reach and interaction to near nil.
For example, when your posts with such hashtags have 0% interaction, you may be facing a shadowban on Instagram. If you want to learn more about Instagram shadowban, you can check our blog to learn all you need to know.
Instagram shadowban's duration varies from case to case. It can be a couple of days or several months. But shadowbans that last for months are not a typical case. Regardless of the length of the shadowban, its effect can be very harsh.
Once your shadowban is removed, you need to have a good comeback strategy to boost your engagement once again. On social media, engagement highly depends on your content's quality.
Circleboom Publish, as being one of the most reliable social media management tools, can help you create eye-catching content with its built-in Canva design feature.
Also, with Circleboom Publish, you can schedule your posts at the best times to post on Instagram to increase your engagement figures. When you are dealing with the damage of an Instagram shadowban, posting at peak times can make a real difference for your comeback.
This goes without saying, but you should also pay more attention to banned Instagram hashtags not to go through this shadowban process one again.
Kevin O. Frank
How to find banned hashtags on Instagram?
To avoid these banned Instagram hashtags, you must first understand which tags are flagged. How is it possible for anyone to know that #hardworkpaysoff is one of the banned Instagram hashtags?
In simple terms, there is no single source that can help you find hashtags banned on Instagram. Because the list of banned Instagram hashtags is updated daily, it would be better for you to check all hashtags and do your homework before using them in a post.
Searching for a specific hashtag in the tags search bar is the manual and challenging way to find out which hashtags were restricted on Instagram. You need to scroll down through the posts after clicking on the hashtag.
If you see a message saying, "recent posts from #hardworkpaysoff are now hidden because the community has reported certain content that might not match Instagram's community rules," at the end, the hashtag is for sure banned.
However, this method takes a lot of time as there can be thousands of posts using that hashtag.
Also, you can take a look at the posts with that specific hashtag to see if they are outdated or look like spam. This means that Instagram is likely to limit how many posts may be made using that hashtag.
There are also thousands of banned hashtag checker tools on the market. If you simply google it, you will encounter many Instagram banned hashtag checker tools with a search bar for hashtags. You can search banned Instagram hashtags using these tools.
But we cannot recommend you to use these tools due to privacy and security issues. It is crucial to keep in mind that your privacy and security are more critical than simplifying a process.
Because Instagram doesn't provide an official list, we have gathered a list of current banned Instagram hashtags for you. You can check the alphabetic list below about the hashtags banned on Instagram.
Zeynep Morelli
What are banned hashtags on Instagram?
Instead of checking every hashtag manually, we wanted to create an Instagram list of banned hashtags to make the process easier for you!
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “A”
- #addmysc
- #assday
- #ass
- #alone
- #always
- #antivax
- #asia
- #americangirl
- #armparty
- #attractive
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a “B”
- #bikinibody
- #beautyblogger
- #boho
- #brain
- #babe
- #bbc
- #besties
- #books
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a “C”
- #costumes
- #curvygirls
- #cpr
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a “D”
- #dating
- #date
- #desk
- #dm
- #dogsofinstagram
Zeynep Morelli
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “E”
- #elevator
- #easter
- #edm
- #eggplant
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “F”
- #fishnets
- #fitnessgirls
- #followforfollow
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a “G”
- #graffitiigers
- #girlsonly
- #gloves
- #goddess
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an "H"
- #hardworkpaysoff
- #humpday
- #happythanksgiving
- #hotweather
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “I”
- #iphonegraphy
- #italiano
- #instababy
- #instamood
- #instasport
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a "K"
- #kansas
- #kissing
- #killingit
- #kickoff
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “L”
- #l4l
- #lean
- #like
- #likeback
- #likeforlike
- #lingerie
- #livinforalivin
- #loseweight
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “M”
- #models
- #master
- #mustfollow
- #mileycyrus
- #milf
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an "N"
- #nasty
- #newyearsday
- #nudity
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an "O"
- #overnight
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a “P”
- #petite
- #pushups
- #pornfood
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an "R"
- #rate
- #ravens
Zeynep Morelli
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with an “S”
- #saltwater
- #shit
- #skype
- #shower
- #single
- #singlelife
- #snapchat
- #snap
- #snowstorm
- #stranger
- #sopretty
- #streetphoto
- #sunbathing
- #swole
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a “T”
- #tag4like
- #teens
- #tanlines
- #thought
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a "U"
- #undies
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a "V"
- #valentinesday
Instagram Banned Hashtags starting with a "W"
- #workflow
Kevin O. Frank
Final Thoughts
Instagram may ban specific hashtags because of coming complaints from their users. These banned Instagram hashtags are generally used in inappropriate posts violating the Instagram guidelines or by spammers and bots.
For some banned Instagram hashtags, it can be easier to understand the reason behind them as they are evidently abusive or inappropriate. On the other hand, some banned Instagram hashtags are indeed the ones you would expect, right? What can be the harm of using #happythanksgiving as a hashtag after all?
But as many spammers or bot accounts use these hashtags over and over, Instagram detects and bans these hashtags to give a better experience to its users.
In some cases, close alternatives to the banned Instagram hashtags can be a safe choice to use. For example, although #beautyblogger is one of the banned Instagram hashtags, you can safely use #beautybloggers with an "s" at the end.
Zeynep Morelli
