Find Out Who Blocked You on Instagram

When you block someone on Instagram, that user cannot view your profile; like, share or comment on your posts; or mention, tag or send you a message. Your account will also not appear in search results. It may be the right move to protect your privacy, but it’s not very nice when you get a victim.

If you can’t find the person you thought you followed on Instagram, it could simply mean that they deactivated or deleted their account, or removed you from their followers, so their content isn’t at the top of your feed. It is also possible that you have been blocked.

Instagram doesn’t notify users when they’ve been banned or let them see the list of accounts that have banned them, but here’s how to find out.

Find their username

Users who have blocked you will not show up in searches, so this is the first potential gift. Go to the “Search” tab in the Instagram app and enter the username of the account. If the account is private (and you’ve been banned), it won’t show up in the results at all. If it’s public, you’ll be able to click on the profile, but you’ll see “No posts yet” in the grid.

You can also use search to double and triple check:

• If you have multiple Instagram accounts, try searching for the user by logging in. If the profile is displayed, your main account may have been suspended. (Note that Instagram has the ability to proactively block new accounts a user might create.)
• Similarly, you can ask a friend to find a user through their account.
• Go to Instagram in your browser. Make sure you are logged out and enter /[username] in the address. If the account page is active, you may have been blocked.

View past comments and posts

If you’ve ever had a direct message with a user who you think has blocked you, or if they’ve ever liked or commented on your posts, you can use them to try to access their profile.

Your message history will still show up even if you’ve been blocked. Open the chat thread and click the “View Profile” button. If their grid says “No posts yet” and you see a pop-up saying “User not found” or “Sorry, this page is not available”, they may have blocked you. The same applies to clicking on a username in a comment or like.

However, it can also be an indicator that the person has deleted their account.