How to get Shut Down on Instagram

Instagram has policies against Ccopyright breaches (posting content copied from the internet or from another account), nudity in photos (although things like cancer scars and breastfeeding are allowed), spamming (repeatedly commenting or contacting people or collecting followers or likes artificially), breaches of the law (no selling weapons or drugs through your account), asks that you respect other members of Instagram, do not glorify self-inflicted injury and that you be considerate of important news events.  

Instagram has a team of people who monitor when accounts are reported and take the appropriate actions to ensure that the situation is managed effectively and professionally. The public is also sometimes able to settle issues with problems like copywriting and trademarking between themselves by filing a report. They advise you don’t overdo it, however, as this can be classified as harassment. 

Reports are the most common way of Instagram becoming aware of accounts that could be fake or scam. After you report an account it can take up to 24 hours for Instagram to view the report and decide on the action it will take. For things like spam or inappropriate content, Instagram would usually send a notice of warning to the account so that they have time to fix their mistake. If the instance is more severe or breaches the Instagram privacy policy however, Instagram has the authority to immediately shut down an account. 

The shutting down of an account is usually controlled by members of the public noticing and reporting content and accounts that could be offensive. Sometimes the content may offend you, as the viewer, but not a general audience. In this case, Instagram suggests that you block the account. This prohibits the account from contacting you or being able to find you the platform. 

Survey

My survey of 100 people showed that around 50% of them have reported an account during their time on social media. 51% said that they had (for various reasons) and 49% said that they had never reported an account or post. The most popular reasons for people reporting accounts were bullying (against themselves or other people) and harassment (people constantly sending them message requests/ inappropriate messages). Other reasons included animal abuse, nudity, hate speech and impersonation.  

Of the 100 people who answered, only three had ever had their account reported. The reasons for this were either as a joke or the respondent wasn’t sure. I believe that there is a low amount of people who have had their account reported because the survey was for girls aged between 11-18, and they are probably less likely to post content that others our age find inappropriate. 

Stories of other accounts (not their own) being reported included: a lot of people reporting one account that was posting content that included a person abusing dogs, celebrities posting nude photos, and bullying. These were mainly from accounts that already have a high follower count and are possibly more confident in posting inappropriate content and that more people would notice if they did. Other stories came from people talking about friends or schoolmates who had been bullying others and ended up being reported.  

In conclusion, It is relatively hard to have your account officially shut down by Instagram, unless you are doing something very bad. Being reported doesn't necessarily mean that your account will be shut down, it simply allows Instagram to have a look and check that you aren't doing anything against their terms and conditions. The main reasons that teenage girls report accounts are because of bullying or harassment. Most people tend to be fairly aware and careful with what they post themselves, as only three out of one hundred have ever been reported. Overall I think the system is pretty good, however, I know that there will be accounts that manage to slip through the cracks and stay on the platform.