How Instagram gave me 3-character username “wmw” and took it back 6 years later without explanation
By: Ivan, Wmw
Tags: Help, Petition, Instagram, Facebook, Ban

After I was convinced that account is not hacked, I started to think what could I possibly was blocked for? After all it says I was disabled for violating ToS. Tried to remember everything I did in the past. What If I really violated rules? Maybe I was racist, made hate comments, bullied someone, posted nudes publicly or dick pics in DMs? No, it doesn’t feel like me. To be honest, I’m not really “that” type of a person, to fight about something on the internet. I’m more of a “read-only” person, rarely post stories and to communicate with friends mainly use Telegram and VK. What if I was disabled for being inactive? Or is it anti-bot neural network algorithm banned me by mistake? These questions drives me crazy, why can’t they just tell you what you was disabled for by sending simple mail?

You can’t reach support via support@instagram.com anymore

First thing I tried to do is of course to contact support team. Quickly read through Instagram Help Center I couldn’t find E-mail support, phone number or contact form. Quick google search gave me this helpful Reddit thread containing hidden ban appeal form links:

Later on, I found that contact form can be accessed through Instagram app, but it’s not intuitive and user-friendly, so I didn’t find it at first. People encourage to use contact form on your PC anyway, because usually Instagram also block your IP address and Device ID.

Contact form gives error if I use “wmw” username. It works for any other accounts.

And you know what? None of those ban appeal contact forms work for me… When I click “Send” button it gives me error:

There was a problem with this request. We’re working on getting it fixed as soon as we can. <Close>

Same error window pops in Instagram iOS app.

Same error via Instagram iOS app

Tried everything, used other iPhone, iPad, another laptop, clearing cookies, changing Wi-Fi, language, location and IP by using VPN. Found out that it gives error only if I use “wmw” username, it works fine for any other usernames. Somehow their system just does not want me to appeal my ban. Did instagram took it back for a big company?

Immediately I created a new temporary account @wmwshka, made support request and got no help from Instagram Team saying,

“ Hi, It looks like you contacted us for help with a different Instagram account. To make sure we’re helping the right person, we’re only able to help you with one account at a time. If you’re having trouble with another account, please try to log into that account and submit a separate report through the Instagram app.”

Quick google search of that error gave me same stories, they say you just have to wait it out and eventually, after few days, contact form starts working. Well, not for me. It’s been like this for two weeks, I try every day.

I reached for help a twitch streamer girl named Sharisha, she’s awesome, follow her Twitch. Her instagram.com/sharishanya also was disabled for no reason not a long time ago. She told me having exactly same error, but eventually instagram let her send ban appeal. She never had success of reaching real human support, yet she’s a verified user. Crazy.

Why she was banned? Okay, so, when you report someone and he gets banned by reviewing your report, you get a standard notification saying something like, “The user you reported has been successfully banned, thanks for reaching us. We make Instagram a better place for everyone”. Turns out some jealous girl encouraged her followers to mass-report @sharishanya account. Instagram’s neural network saw big spike of reports which caused her profile being blocked by algorithm. How she knows that? Remember notification about your report being successfully reviewed? That jealous girl posted notification screenshot publicly to celebrate ban. Since Sharisha is popular mass-media person, her fans let her know about it. In the end, by sending lot of ban appeals she got her account reactivated! 👏