Users claimed their accounts were suddenly suspended, with no clear explanation as to why.
Reports that Instagram was down spiked Monday morning as users complained that their accounts had been suspended for no apparent reason.
Down Detector, a site that tracks user reports of site outages, showed a spike in reports about Instagram starting around 9 a.m. Eastern. By 9:45 a.m., the site showed more than 6,500 outage reports.
In a familiar pattern for social media platform issues, Instagram users turned to Twitter to ask if others were having the same problem. “#instagramdown” was quickly trending in the United States.
Users complained that they didn’t know why the suspension happened. Screenshots showed a message on the Instagram app informing users that their account “doesn’t follow our Community Guidelines” and that 30 days remained to contest the decision.
Meta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook, did not immediately reply to an email requesting comment. Instagram’s official Twitter account acknowledged the reports, saying the issue is under investigation.
“We’re aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account,” the company wrote. “We’re looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience.”
The Instagram issues began popping up several hours after Crowdtangle, an insights tool also owned by Meta, alerted many of its users that their access had been revoked for supposedly violating the terms of service. Crowdtangle explained an “automated message” had been sent out by mistake.
This story will be updated when more information is available.