Ever seen that dreaded “Action Blocked” notification pop up when you go to Like, comment on, save, or share a post? It usually appears due to a “violation of Instagram rules” and can leave your account disabled for hours, days, or even longer at times, which is not only annoying but could also impact your profile health. In today’s Instagram toolkit, we show you how to fix “Action Blocked” on Instagram!
How to fix Action Blocked on Instagram
Action Blocked can appear as a notification in two instances. Sometimes, it could be because you are making actions at a high volume, and fast pace on Instagram which signals to the platform that you could be using a bot.
This is what is considered a “violation of Instagram rules” as you are not ‘organically’ interacting on their platform. In other cases, you may see this notification pop up when you are sure you haven’t been violating Instagram rules, meaning it could just be a system error or a mistake. Here’s how to fix it:
Step 1: Directly Report a problem 🚨
When the ‘Action Blocked’ notification appears, you should be able to click the option to “Report a Problem.” With this, you will receive the option to either “Tell Us” or “Ignore.” If you tap “Tell Us” this will trigger an action for Instagram to look into it. If these options do not appear, and you can only see a button that says “ok,” you can “Report a Problem” in a different way.
Step 2: Head to Instagram Settings ⚙️
Select “Settings,” “Help” then “Report a Problem.”
In the feedback section, type a message which describes your issue seeing the “Action Blocked’ button, when you have not been violating Instagram’s rules, and submit the form.
Step 3: Delete, and Reinstall the App 📱
If your Action Block won’t go away, you can try uninstalling the Instagram app, and reinstalling it (rather than just deleting the app, you’ll need to uninstall it from the app store). Due to the way Instagram stores data, has helped some people fix their Action Block.
Step 4: Change your connection 📶
Sometimes, Instagram might implement a block if they believe your account is operating from a suspicious IP Address. If you encounter this issue, you can use an
IP location finder to check the exact location of the IP being flagged.
Try connecting to a different network, or using your mobile data to see if this fixes the problem. Similarly, you can also try accessing your account from a different phone/device, and seeing if the block still persists. You can use any authentic VPN to
change your IP Address.
Step 5: Don’t interact 🤫
Your block may only be on one type of action, so it’s important you don’t make your account seem even more suspicious by continuing to try and complete actions on the platform. Try leaving the app for a few hours without any activity and see if this impacts the block period.
What types of Action Blocked are there on Instagram, and how long do they last?
Believe it or not, whilst they appear the same, Action Blocks can come in different forms, and last for differing timeframes, depending on how severe the violation is.
Temporary Action Block 🙅♀️
As the name suggests, these are temporary, and may appear when violating actions are detected on your account for the first time, or it when you accidentally like too many pictures in a certain timeframe, for example. These should last a few hours at most.
Action Block with a set date 📆
These are a little rare, but these Action Blocks will let you know when the block actually expires when they send you the notification.
Action Block without a date 🤷♀️
This type of Action Block can last up to a few weeks, and usually has no option for you to specifically ‘Report a Problem.’ This is where you will need to head to ‘Settings’ to flag the issue.
What causes Action Blocked on Instagram?
Usually, the reason your account can get blocked from interacting is that you are taking too many actions, too quickly. Here are a few Instagram rule violations that could lead to your account being blocked:
Average interaction 🙌
If you tend to minimally interact on Instagram and are suddenly liking and commenting on hundreds of photos within the hour, Instagram will notice. This is because you’ve had a behavior change, which is flagged as suspicious, and could lead to a ban.
The size of your account 👣
If you have a larger account, with typically high engagement, you are more likely to have a higher “interaction” or action allowance than others. This is because you may be replying to comments and DMs often, and so the platform expects you to interact more.
How long you have had Instagram ⏰
The longer you have your account, the more actions you can perform. If you have a brand new account and are performing a large amount of actions, Instagram will deem this as suspicious and could block your account, so bear this in mind!
If you have been blocked before 👀
Instagram collects data on everything, so they’ll know if you’ve had an Action Block before. This flags your account, so you are more likely to get blocked again, and faster if you replicate the same behavior that got you blocked in the first place.
The type of Action you are making 🤔
Creating multiple DM’s, comments, and uploads triggers the most suspicion for Instagram, followed by follower change, then Likes. You are able to complete more Likes per day than you can DMs, comments, and uploads as they are considered more “meaningful.”
Using bots 🤖
To sum up, the best way to avoid getting blocked on Instagram, and having your account flagged as suspicious is by avoiding the urge to use bots or any ‘quick win’ tactics that often may cause your account to grow quickly, but will not help the overall health of your account, or the quality and interest of your engagements and followers.
We hope you manage to fix the Instagram Action Blocked soon! To learn more about
how to build an organic strategy, that will help you gain quality followers that stick around, take a look at our
recent blog article here!