Thousands unable to access Instagram saying their accounts have been suddenly suspended
31 October 2022, 15:53 | Updated: 31 October 2022, 16:25
Social media platform Instagram has left thousands of users worldwide unable to access their accounts, with many users branding the outage a “Halloween trick”.
The issue, which appeared to affect users at around 2pm on Monday, saw social media users unable to login.
Many Instagram users accessing the app were met with the news their accounts had been suspended, whilst others spotted a large drop in follower numbers.
The platform confirmed there had been an issue via Twitter, stating, “We’re aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We’re looking into it and apologise for the inconvenience.”
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Many accounts - including that of Premiere League and Manchester United footballer Christiano Ronaldo - saw over 3 million users disappear in a matter of seconds, dropping to just over 493 million.
Instagram's own account also saw a drop, with more than a million followers seemingly vanishing.
With users attempting to login, a caution message appears telling the account owner they have 30 days to disagree with the decision by clicking the blue alert box.
It's a bizarre error that saw many users questioning whether the error was a Halloween prank. While others became concerned they'd be unable to post Halloween photos.
One Instagram user posted to Twitter: "What is going on with @instagram suspended my account for no reason!!!! #instagramdown."
It comes as outage monitoring website Down Detector saw over 3,000 down alerts registered at 2pm GMT.
The issue appears to be a technical problem according to the tech giant.
Instagram PR said the company is looking into it.
