Yes, there is a list with banned Instagram hashtags that you should avoid if you don’t want to get penalized by Instagram. The bad news is that this list is changing every week. The good news is that we can check our hashtags before we add them to our IG feed.

Although banned Instagram hashtags mean extra work for each post, in general, I find it a clever way to restrict spam behavior inside the platform. Fake news and spamming are making our social media life feel like a weekend in the most dangerous city in the world.

Protect your Instagram account by auditing once a month your hashtags. It’s a must-do process for brand protection. Get yourself together and make this Instagram health check-up every single month.

Last year (2018), Instagram has grown the “negative list” of banned hashtags with more popular terms. More users seem the side effect of these banned Instagram hashtags. Any post that includes them stays hidden and not reachable by your brand’s audience. No one wants that!

Instagram is trying to clean the air from fake news, spammers, fake accounts, bots and scammers. And they do a really great effort to succeed. In their continuous effort to protect the app’s authenticity, Instagram’s bot detection has started to detect and flag IG accounts that use specific hashtags.

Instagram 2021 Banned Hashtags

Last update May 2021

Here is the list of banned Instagram hashtags, by letter, we have gathered so far:

A

alone, always, armparty, adulting, assday, ass, abdl, assworship, addmysc, asiangirl, addmyonlyfans

B

beautyblogger, brain, boho, besties, bikinibody, babyrp, breast, breasts

C

costumes, curvygirls

D

date, dating, desk, dm, direct, drugs

E

elevator, eggplant, edm

F

fuck, fuckyou

G

girlsonly, gloves, graffitiigers

H

happythanksgiving, hawks, hotweather, humpday, hustler, hardworkpaysoff

I

ilovemyinstagram, instababy, instasport, iphonegraphy, italiano, ice, ig,

J

****

K

killingit, kill, kansas, kissing, kickoff

L

leaves, like, lulu, lean, loseweight

M

master, milf, mileycyrus, models, mustfollow, mirrorphoto

N

nasty, newyearsday, nude, nudism, nudity, nipple, nipples

O

overnight, orderweedonline

P

parties, petite, pornfood, pushups, prettygirl, porn

Q

****

R

rate, ravens

S

samelove, selfharm, skateboarding, skype, snap, snapchat, single, singlelife, stranger, saltwater, shower, shit, sopretty, sunbathing, streetphoto, swole, snowstorm, sexy, sex, sexshop

T

tanlines, todayimwearing, teens, teen, thought, tag4like, tagsforlikes, thighs

U

undies

V

valentinesday, vagina

W

workflow, wtf

X

xanax

Y

youngmodel

Z

****

These hashtags have been removed from the banned list in May 2021:

adultlife, americangirl, asia, abc7ny, attractive, abcess, africanexpeditions, agariogaming, akiralane, allbreasts, amearalavey, animenoobs, afourchamberedheart, audaciousprayer, beautydirectory, babe, bbc, easter, fitnessgirls, fishnets, lingerie, newyears, qatar, sallyhansen, sun, stud, tgif, treasurethesemoments,

Be Proactive

Avoid been blocked by Instagram.

Hashtags are a great way to find what you are looking for and the best fit for your brand. However, if you are not careful and you are skipping the checking process, you may end up blocked by Instagram.

Every time you are adding a new hashtag check it carefully. Instagram has banned many harmless hashtags forever. It is true, that some hashtags are banned temporarily but still this can harm your brand. Never use a banned hashtag! Scroll your IG account and delete all banned hashtags from your copy. If you neglect to clean up your IG account you might get penalized or blocked or shadowbanned. None of them is a happy place for a pro digital marketing strategy!

I know it’s a lot of work but your brand’s IG account deserves the best social media optimization and results.

Some Golden Tips

Apparently we have a limit of 30 hashtags, In some cases, it’s not a good idea to use all 30. Try to limit your hashtags up to 20-25 and check your results for each group of hashtags. Instagram has developed an inspection tool for “groups” that boost each post. Think twice before you try these pods! Instagram doesn’t like them… Also, it is after ALL kinds of bots & spam behavior. Don’t use bots for auto likes and comments.

Have you spotted any missing Hashtag?

We would love to have your additions for any missing hashtags on this list. Have we left out any? Be our eyes and ears on Instagram! Feel free to send them in the comments section.

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A post shared by IDEADECO | ARETI VASSOU | SEO (@aretivassou)

Something Extra about Instagram by The Social Focus Team

When we come across a useful source of information about Instagram we like to share it with our people. The team of Social Focus has crafted an amazing podcast about Instagram’s best practices. Listen and apply!

EP73 – 5 Things You May Not Have Known about Instagram