Spammers and bots and trolls, oh my! Whether it’s a comment from a foreign account saying “very nice photo” for the 67th time or the ever-so-popular, non-convincing sales pitch of “Great content! DM me, let’s talk!”, bots seem to be taking over the ‘Gram.
Due to an increase in fake accounts and false activity, Instagram is fighting back. They are continually implementing more and more methods to catch bots in their tracks. Most recently, some of these changes have included monitoring unauthorized app usage, targeting Instagram users who publish duplicate content and hashtags, and the most terrifying, shadow banning accounts.
Although this is a great way to eliminate spam, Instagram’s bot detection methods are beginning to cause issues for the everyday Instagrammer.
Yes, we’re talking about banned hashtags.
What exactly are Instagram banned hashtags?
Of course, we all know that using hashtags can increase the reach of your posts on social media. But, what many people don’t know is that using the wrong hashtags can actually hurt the engagement on your Instagram account. Why? Because Instagram is flagging your account for spam.
Put simply, banned hashtags have been put in place to stop the reach of spammy Instagram accounts. Although this is a good-intentioned algorithm update, it means you need to stay on top of banned hashtag additions.
And what happens if I use Instagram Banned Hashtags?
Although some hashtags only have a temporary ban, many are permanent. And, what happens if you use these banned hashtags? You risk your account seeing a dramatic decrease in engagement, having your account temporarily shadowbanned… or permanently removed.
For example, the hashtag #happythanksgiving was completely overrun with spam, so they banned it. From here on out, if you use the hashtag #happythanksgiving, not only will your content most likely not show up for that hashtag, you might also be flagged for spam. The repetitive use of banned hashtags, leading to multiple flags to your account, could even result in the Instagram shadowban or account removal.
How do I know if a hashtag is banned?
Of course, in order to avoid these forbidden hashtags, you have to know which tags are banned. How is anyone supposed to know that #happythanksgiving is considering “spam”?
Essentially, there is no one source that can solve this problem for you. Since the banned hashtags change on a daily basis, it is your responsibility to check all hashtags and do your research before including them in a post.
The old process to see which hashtags were banned on Instagram was to search for a specific hashtag in the tags search bar. After clicking on the hashtag, you would scroll through the pictures. If you reached an end-point with a message saying, “recent posts from #happythanksgiving are currently hidden because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram’s community guidelines,” it was banned.
However, it seems to be a bit trickier to tell if a hashtag is banned on Instagram today.
One way to check is to search the hashtag in question and see if the posts are outdated, meaning Instagram likely capped the number of posts using that hashtag.
Another easy way to see if the hashtag may be banned is to look at the posts it is associated with and ask yourself, “Are these posts the type of content I want to be grouped with?” If the content you see is spam-like, then avoid the hashtag.
How do I avoid Instagram Banned Hashtags?
To avoid being shadowbanned by Instagram or worse, use this comprehensive list of banned hashtags below.
After reading through the top banned Instagram hashtags, pop over to your own account and consider double-checking you aren’t using any banned hashtags.
Edit your previous posts’ captions to remove banned hashtags, and in the future, use only 5-10 hashtags instead of thirty. Using different hashtags for each post can help you dodge being mistaken as a spam account.
You can also up your Insta game by doing your hashtag research to ensure your posts are widely seen.
Banned Instagram Hashtags in 2021
Banned Hashtags by Letter
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U V W Y
So, onto the important information. Although there are far too many hashtags to list, we will skip the X-rated hashtags (yikes) and move on to the surprising, “why is that banned?” hashtags. Let’s dive in!
Banned Hashtags that start with “A”
#addmysc
#adulting
#alone
#always
#americangirl
#armparty
#asia
#attractive
Banned Hashtags that start with “B”
#babe
#bbc
#beautyblogger (beautybloggers is okay!)
#beautydirectory
#besties
#beyonce
#bikinibody
#boho
#books
#brain
Banned Hashtags that start with “C”
#costumes
#cpr
#curvy
#curvygirls
#customers
Banned Hashtags that start with “D”
#date
#dating
#desk
#direct
#dm
#dogsofinstagram
Banned Hashtags that start with “E”
#easter
#edm
#eggplant
#elevator
Banned Hashtags that start with “F”
#fishnets
#fitnessgirls
#followforfollow
Banned Hashtags that start with “G”
#girlsonly
#gloves
#goddess
#graffitiigers
Banned Hashtags that start with “H”
#happythanksgiving
#hardworkpaysoff
#hawks
#hotweather
#humpday
#hustler
Banned Hashtags that start with “I”
#ice
#ig
#ilovemyinstagram
#instababy
#instamood
#instasport
#iphonegraphy
#italiano
Banned Hashtags that start with “K”
#kansas (#kansascity works!)
#kickoff
#killingit
#kissing
Banned Hashtags that start with “L”
#l4l
#lean
#leaves
#like
#likeback
#likeforlike
#lingerie
#livinforalivin
#loseweight
#lulu
Banned Hashtags that start with “M”
#master
#mileycyrus
#milf
#mirrorphoto
#models
#mustfollow
Banned Hashtags that start with “N”
#newyears
#newyearsday
#nudity
Banned Hashtags that start with “O”
#overnight
Banned Hashtags that start with “P”
#parties
#petite
#popular
#pornfood
#prettygirl
#publicrelations
#puppydogmondays
#pushups
Banned Hashtags that start with “R”
#rate
#ravens
Banned Hashtags that start with “S”
#saltwater
#samelove
#selfharm
#shower
#single
#singlelife
#skateboarding
#skype
#snap
#snapchat
#snowstorm
#sopretty
#stranger
#streetphoto
#stud
#sunbathing
#swole
Banned Hashtags that start with “T”
#tag4like
#tagsforlikes
#tanlines
#teen
#teens
#tgif
#todayimwearing
#treasurethesemoments
Banned Hashtags that start with “U”
#undies
Banned Hashtags that start with “V”
#valentinesday
Banned Hashtags that start with “W”
#woman
#womancrushwednesday
#women
#workflow
#wtf
Banned Hashtags that start with “Y”
#youngmodel
Final Thoughts
As you can see, it is extremely important to be aware of banned Instagram hashtags! Now, you can be confident that your Instagram won’t be flagged as spam.
Come back and check this list if you question whether a hashtag you want to use is banned, and share it with your friends so they don’t accidentally get flagged or shadowbanned. Happy posting!
