How Many Reports Are Needed to Delete Instagram Accounts?

The number of reports doesn't determine the outcome.

Instagram doesn't have a rule about termination based on a number of reports. In fact, if Instagram believes an account is in violation of its policies, they have the right to disable the account based on a single complaint! While that's unlikely for most, an account might be deleted immediately if its content creates risk or legal exposure for Instagram. The point is, it's not the number of complaints that will bring an account down—it's about how often that user shares content that violates Instagram's policies.

The type of violation matters.

The nature of the content might play a role in termination time. If an account is violating the rules in a more flagrant way, such as by sharing pornography or illegal content, it's likely to be terminated faster than accounts who share content that might be more subjective. For example, it'll take more time for Instagram's support team to research reports of harassment and bullying, while explicit content is easier to identify by sight.

Instagram issues warnings before deleting accounts.

If Instagram finds that a post violates their policies, the account will usually receive a warning. In addition to the warning, Instagram will typically remove the offending content from the platform. This warning doesn't mean the account is in jeopardy, but the account owner should be more careful about adhering to guidelines in the future. Even if 10,000 people report a single post, that post will only yield one warning for the account owner, and only if Instagram finds that the post violates their Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. Instagram's algorithms also automatically detect posts that violate their policies and issue warnings to those account owners—an account can receive a warning without a human ever reporting the post! You can check your warnings in the Instagram app—on your profile, tap the menu at the top-right, tap Settings, select Help, and then chose Support Requests. Any warnings you've received appear in the Violations area.

Too many warnings will result in account deletion.

If an account repeatedly violates policies, Instagram will issue a warning that says "Your Account May Be Deleted." At this point, any further violations may result in a permanent deletion of the account, which means that the account owner should stay on their best behavior. Unfortunately, there's no way to know how many warnings one needs to receive before their account is deleted.

Multiple reports can draw attention to your account.

If people frequent report certain accounts, the moderation team might pay more attention to that user. While Instagram's artificial intelligence handles a lot of abuse and violation complaints, a post or account that yields a higher number of complaints may reach a human moderator who can evaluate the situation and decide whether an account is too risky to keep on their platform. But if there are no violations, the account will not be terminated.

Instagram down-ranks accounts that share misinformation.

Accounts that share content that's frequently debunked by fact checkers might be penalized. Instagram tries to decrease the spread of misinformation on the platform by down-ranking the content shared by known offenders, which means these accounts' posts won't be visible to as many people. While Instagram used to only down-rank the offending posts, they now down-rank other posts by accounts who commonly share false information.