How To Get Your Disabled Cannabis Instagram Account Back

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are based on my personal opinions and experience. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. Always consult a medical professional for any medical or cannabis questions.

If you're reading this, you either have gotten your Instagram account disabled before, your current Instagram account was disabled, or you know someone who has gone through this. Especially in the cannabis industry, this is a common frustration that occurs and affects many legitimate licensed cannabis businesses, brands, and creators. In this article, I am going to share 5 actionable steps you can take to get your disable Instagram account back.

I'll also be explaining how your account may have been disabled in the first place, what shadowbans are, and the issues with cannabis censorship on social media platforms. And I will be sharing a few ideas on how I think the cannabis community and Instagram can work together to create better guidelines for cannabis content.

Losing your Instagram account can be very disheartening, but don't lose hope! This guide is meant to help you navigate through the extremely cumbersome recovery process, and will hopefully help you regain access back to your disabled Instagram account.

Disclaimer

The contents in this article have not been verified by Instagram and I cannot guarantee you that by following the steps outlined, you will for certain get your disabled instagram account back. However, I can say that I am experienced when it comes to this situation, as I myself have been disabled by Instagram four times in two years, and have luckily been able to get my account back every time.

Having gone through this process many times, and speaking with other businesses and creators who have experienced a deactivated Instagram account, I'm confident that the tips I am about to share with you will help in some way. And even if it doesn't, it's worth a try. At the end of the day, no one truly knows how Instagram handles disabled Instagram accounts, so it's really up to us, the community, to share what we've learned with each other. Over the past two years, I've kept a document of all the things that happen when one gets their account disabled, and all the different methods that you can follow to possibly recover your deactivated account.

Why Does Instagram Deactivate Accounts?

Before we get into how to get your disabled account back, we have to talk about why and how it happens in the first place. Instagram has a strict list of community guidelines that dictate what you can and cannot do or post on the social media platform. When accounts go against those guidelines, Instagram punishes these accounts by removing their content, deactivating/disabling accounts, or even potentially deleting the Instagram account fully. Now, Instagram doesn't always do a great job of this as there have been many users complaining about how Instagram does this to innocent accounts that have not violated the community guidelines. At the end of the day, the Instagram app can do whatever it wants, and that's the harsh reality that Instagram users have to accept.

What Are The Instagram Community Guidelines?

Without boring you with the details, Instagram's community guidelines boils down to 7 main rules. You can read about the community guidelines in detail on Instagram's Help Center.

• Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share.
• Post photos and videos that are appropriate for a diverse audience.
• Foster meaningful and genuine interactions.
• Follow the law.
• Respect other members of the Instagram community.
• Maintain our supportive environment by not glorifying self-injury.
• Be thoughtful when posting newsworthy events.

When it comes to cannabis, Instagram's community guidelines state that "buying or selling non-medical or pharmaceutical drugs are also not allowed [and] also remove content that attempts to trade, co-ordinate the trade of, donate, gift, or ask for non-medical drugs, as well as content that either admits to personal use (unless in the recovery context) or coordinates or promotes the use of non-medical drugs." Instagram asks users to "remember to always follow the law when offering to sell or buy other regulated goods".

My Personal Experience with Getting My Instagram Account Disabled

I've personally been disabled four times and luckily have gotten my account back every time. If you're familiar with my content, you'll know that I am extremely careful with my content to ensure that it does not violate the community guidelines. 99% of my content is cryptic and never explicitly mentions cannabis.

However, this is not to say that I didn't in the past when I first started my Instagram account. When I first started posting cannabis content on Instagram, I had no idea that you weren't allowed to post cannabis on the platform. I thought that because cannabis was legalized in Canada, I was free to do whatever I want. Boy was I wrong! Instagram is a global platform, and with most of the world still treating cannabis as an illegal substance, you cannot freely talk about cannabis, even if it's for personal consumption.

Nonetheless, I've learned my lessons the hard way, and nowadays I never mention cannabis. And if I do, it's always eluding to cannabis and never explicitly saying or typing the word out. For example, all my recipe videos will say "infused xyz" and I'll only use emojis to explain what I'm trying to say. I also don't use any cannabis related hashtags. I'd rather not risk it nowadays.

How Does Instagram Disable Your Account?

There are 2 scenarios that I've experienced and read about online in which Instagram can deactivate your Instagram account.

The first scenario is when Instagram will automatically remove any content that you have posted because it violates their community guidelines. I believe this is flagged by bots or AI technology that is able to detect via visual and text whether a piece of content goes against the community guidelines. It is also possible that this flag is being triggered by an Instagram user reporting your content.

For example, I once re-shared a post from a verified cannabis content creator onto my story, and Instagram immediately sent me a notification in my Instagram app notifying me that my story violates the community guidelines. What's weird is that the original creator who created this post, still had their content up when this happened to me. It This specific piece of content was a photo of a joint roller. This means that Instagram was able to use AI technology to scan the imagery, and associate it with cannabis. Once this story was removed, I saw that in my "Account Status", I had a violation marked on my account. Instagram indicates in app that if you have enough violations, Instagram could potentially deactivate and/or delete your account in the future.

The second scenario is that Instagram will out of nowhere log you out of your account, ask you to verify your identity, and lock you out of your account for 24 hours until they can verify your identity. Typically once they verify your identity, you will log back into the app, and that is when they will show you a second notification letting you know whether you have violated the community guidelines or not. I call this the "disabled message". Four out of four times for me, at this stage, Instagram will always say that I violated the community guidelines and offer me the opportunity to appeal the decision by using their standard appeal submission form. From there, the Instagram support team will review your form and if all goes well, they will reactivate your account.

I believe that this scenario is triggered by an individual reporting your account and/or your content. The reason why I do not believe it is necessarily triggered by bots is because every time it has happened to me, it was very out of the blue and had no correlation to any content that I posted within the 24 hours of it happening to me. For example, the most recent time that it happened to me, I had shared a post about International Women's Day which had nothing to do with cannabis. However within an hour or so of putting out the post, I was disabled. Out of the blue. Just like that.

The second scenario is one of the most frustrating things EVER. The entire process is not transparent and Instagram really leaves you in the dark when it comes to the status of your appeal. Instagram does not have any customer support, so you won't be able to follow up on your ticket or ever chat with a real human. They will also never email you to tell you whether your account is reactivated or not. Every time I got my account back, I only found out that I got it back because I had to manually check or one of my friends would message me to tell me the news. Frustrating, I know.

Are Shadowbans The Same As Getting Disabled?

It's important to know that shadowbans are different than getting disabled on Instagram.

Shadowbans have never been confirmed by Instagram but I am certain that they exist because I myself have experienced it several times, along with many other businesses and creators. Shadowban is the theory that Instagram will prevent your account and content from being shown to your followers and to the rest of the Instagram community if you have violated their community guidelines or used banned hashtags.

I can confirm that shadowbans exist because when I was shadowbanned, I noticed that if I posted an in-feed post with a generic hashtag like #cake for example, and I would immediately search up the hashtag to see "Recent" posts - my photo would not show up. This is a clear indicator that I was being shadowbanned because normally my posts would show up in the "Recent" posts section. In addition, I noticed that during this time that I was shadowbanned, my reach and engagement was significantly impacted as I was not reaching or engaging as many users versus the prior week. Within the Insights section of my account where I could see all my content analytics, I would see that my reach and engagement would be cut down by 50% or even higher!

The Issue with Cannabis Censorship on Social Media Platforms

There are many issues with cannabis censorship, in particular with how it affects business accounts and creator accounts that operate in a legalized country such as Canada. The reality is, until cannabis is globally legalized, or at least legalized in the most populated countries (ie. US), I don't see why they would change their policies against "illegal substances" like cannabis. Instagram doesn't care that Canada is a legal country. The rules are the rules. There are 4 key issues that I see with cannabis censorship on social media platforms:

Lack of transparency with the deactivation and appeal process

Many businesses and creators are left in the dark when and if they are deactivated by Instagram for "violating community guidelines". Instagram will never tell the user what specific piece of content or action triggered the deactivation. How are users supposed to know what they did wrong and how they can avoid this in the future? To make matters worse, the appeal process is an absolute nightmare. Once you are deactivated and submit the appeal form, you have no way of knowing whether your appeal was read, whether it will be processed, or even what the status of the account is.

Inability to educate about cannabis from a scientific, medical, or responsible manner

Without the ability to share content about cannabis from an educational perspective that is not soliciting sales, this hinders the cannabis community from educating the general public about cannabis as a plant and medicine. It makes it difficult for the cannabis community to end stigmas towards cannabis, which is one of the core issues that the community has been fighting for decades. When it comes to small businesses that are operating in a legalized country with a legitimate cannabis license to sell cannabis, without the ability to talk about cannabis on Instagram, how are they supposed to grow their business and reach customers? We live in such a digital world, and Instagram is such a prominent part of everyone's daily life, and it's one of the largest marketing platforms in the world.

Favoritism towards celebrities and prominent digital creators

I've noticed some degrees of favoritism from Instagram when it comes to deciding who is allowed to post what on Instagram. Prominent celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Seth Rogan are allowed to post cannabis content (without any educational component) yet they have never gotten their account disabled before, and are verified by Instagram.

There are also digital creators in the non-cannabis space such as The Try Guys who have posted several YouTube videos about them consuming cannabis and then trying to do a specific activity - like this video where they test high driving. How is this safe and even allowed? Yes, this isn't Instagram, but it still falls within the realm of social media platform's and their community guidelines. In addition, The Try Guys are able to monetize off this content, which YouTube has mentioned that content that doesn't follow their guidelines may not be eligible for monetization.

I've also seen several prominent cannabis content creators and notable cannabis brands on Instagram that are verified. By no means am I saying that these accounts should not be verified. In fact, I'm very happy that we have cannabis accounts that are verified because it's the step in the right direction. However it seems to be unfair treatment when these cannabis creators and brands are technically violating community guidelines, yet they are allowed to thrive on Instagram while small businesses and smaller creators have to walk on thin ice when it comes to navigating the guidelines.

Double standards with how cannabis is treated vs. alcohol (specifically in the context of legalized country/states)

On the Meta Transparency Center, it states that they do not allow content that "Attempts to buy, sell or trade alcohol or tobacco except when posted by a Page, Group, or Instagram profile representing legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites or brands, or a private individual sharing content on behalf of legitimate brick-and-mortar entities". Meta is basically Facebook, and Facebook owns Instagram, so this guideline also applies to Instagram. This particular policy is extremely unfair to cannabis businesses that operate in a legalized market. To frame this policy in the context of Canada, it's basically saying that businesses in Canada are allowed to promote or sell alcohol on Instagram, but businesses in Canada are not allowed to promote or sell cannabis on Instagram. Both are federally legalized.

Opportunities for Instagram To Improve Their Community Guidelines for Legalized Countries and States

There are two areas of opportunity that I would like to see Instagram explore in order to improve the community guidelines for legitimate cannabis brands and creators. In order for these changes to even be discussed with Instagram, we need to have influential individuals lobbying for these changes. Whether it's a group of cannabis CEOs, government officials, notable public figures, we need people with power to step in. The founder of OuidTube recently created a petition on Change.org where they are seeking signatures to demand better regulation and policies from Instagram. Petitions like this are what we need - but we also need much more and to keep driving this discussion forward.

First, I'd love to see Instagram implement a geo-filter where users in legalized countries or states are allowed to post and see other cannabis content. Anyone who lives in a non-legalized country will not have access to this content. This is an extremely expensive product to build for Instagram, which is why I don't see why they would ever implement such a feature unless required by the government.

What Instagram can do that is relatively inexpensive, is revise their current deactivation and appeal process. Instagram needs to provide more clarity and transparency to end users on why their account is being deactivated with specific reasons and/or evidence, and provide users with a clear process about how they can actually get their account back. Instagram also needs to do a better job of evaluating whether an account should be deactivated or not, and whether a certain piece of content does truly violate the community guidelines. I once had a photo of mangos removed from Instagram when it had absolutely nothing to do with cannabis.

5 Things You Can Do To Get Your Disabled Instagram Account Back

Verify your identity

The first thing you need to do once your account is disabled is to verify your identity. This step is really important and critical that the details you are submitting to verify your identity match the details that you used to create the account. I recommend that you check right now what information you used to sign up for your Instagram account by going to your Settings, Account, Personal Information. Here you will see the email, phone number, and birthday that you used to create your account. This is the information that Instagram will try to validate. Once you verify your identity, Instagram will log you out of your account and within 24 hours when you try to log back onto the account, another message will pop up on the screen most likely notifying you that you account has been disabled for violating the community guidelines.

Fill out all the relevant appeal forms

Instagram will provide you with their standard appeal form which is to be used if your account was deactivated for not following Instagram's community guidelines and you believe it is a mistake. This form will ask for your name, email, username, mobile number, and have a section for you to tell Instagram why you are appealing the decision for them to permanently deactivate your account. This form is critical to get done right the first time. First, ensure that your personal information matches the information used to sign up for the account, as mentioned above. Second, in the section where you can plead for your innocence, remember the following tips:

• Be nice and professional: This form is most likely read by a customer support agent at Instagram so be polite and professional. Typing in all capitals or swearing or "yelling" at Instagram will do you more harm than good.
• Specify that you read the community guidelines and you did not violate the terms: It's important to explicitly call this out so that Instagram knows you didn't do anything wrong. I know it sounds silly, but sometimes you just have to straight up say things directly.
• Specify that you believe your account was disabled by mistake: Again, it's just explicitly calling out this statement so that it makes it easier for the reviewer to process your claim.
• Mention your purpose on social media and how you do follow the community guidelines: I like to write a short blurb about how I'm an honest content creator on Instagram that requires my account in order to connect with my community, and how I respect all members of Instagram and foster meaningful and genuine interactions.

There are 2 more forms that Instagram does not explicitly share with the disabled user that I have found on their Instagram Help Center. The first form is an appeal form that allows you to submit proof of your business (ie. business license, invoice, utility bill, etc.) in order to get your Instagram account back. I think that this form is going to be very valuable especially if you are a licensed cannabis retailer because it validates your legitimacy and will hopefully get Instagram's eyes on it faster. The second form allows you to submit a copy of your government-issue photo ID to potentially gain access back to your account. I think this form is more for creators to provide an additional piece of proof that the account disabled belongs to you.

Below are all the Instagram appeal forms:

https://help.instagram.com/contact/606967319425038

https://help.instagram.com/contact/1652567838289083

https://help.instagram.com/contact/396169787183059

In the past, I have submitted these forms at least once per day. Don't over-submit them either - there are cases I have seen where if you submit too many times, Instagram will pop up a message telling you to pause as it could be marked as spam.

Reach out to a personal contact that works at meta

Personally I have tried this route every time that I was disabled but I cannot verify whether it actually works or not. It's also a hassle and can be annoying to reach out to your friend every time this happens. I've also been told that there isn't much internal Meta employees can do other than filing a ticket internally, and that you're better off just following the standard appeal process.

Send a formal legal letter to Meta Privacy to get your data back

Disclaimer: The content below is not meant to be legal advice and is information based on my personal experience and opinion only. Please consult a legal professional.

If you're still waiting for your Instagram account after a week or so, I recommend that you take action to at least get your personal data back. I personally hired a lawyer to draft a legal notice to mail to Meta Privacy basically stating that my account was disabled by mistake and I need my data back. If you don't mind spending some extra money, I think this step is worth it because it really gives you a peace of mind in a sense that you would have exhausted all possible options. A lawyer may also be able to help you draft a letter that references certain data protection laws whereby Instagram may be required to provide your data back to you. I also believe that sending a physical letter to Meta Privacy might escalate your case to hopefully get a resolution sooner. You can find Meta Privacy's contact information and physical address on this page of the Instagram Help Center.

Below is the physical address :

Meta Platforms, Inc.ATTN: Privacy Operations1601 Willow RoadMenlo Park, CA 94025

How to Prevent Getting Shadowbanned or Disabled In The Future

Now you might be wondering, how can you avoid getting disabled in the future or prevent shadowbans from happening to you in the first place? Great question! I highly recommend that you read my article where I provide 10 Tips to Prevent Being Shadowbanned or Disabled on Instagram. I would say that this article is even more important to read, because it really helps you prevent yourself from entering this situation to begin with. If you prefer to watch this content, check out my YouTube video where I break down all these tips in less than 10 minutes.

Why You Need to Diversify Your Social Media Platforms and Channels

If you've made it this far, congratulations. This topic is definitely not the sexiest to write about, but I think it's very important to share this information as Instagram will never share this information with the general public. I hope that the tips and tricks can help you in getting your Instagram account back.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned from going through shadowbans and having my account disabled is that I highly recommend diversifying your social media platforms. This means that you should be on all social media platforms and have your own website with a mailing list. The more platforms you are on, the more points of communication that you will have with your followers, so that in the event that anything happens to your Instagram account, you can still connect with your community. I also recommend having a backup Instagram account and encouraging your followers to also follow you there.

But most importantly, you need to have your own website that houses all your content, and collects email address from your community. No social media giant can ever take this information from you as you ultimately own all the content.