Instagram down: thousands of users report suspended accounts and lost followers

Company says it is looking into access issues as people around the world report being unable to log in

Instagram users around the world are facing issues. AFP

Instagram apologised on Monday after thousands of users reported having their accounts suspended with no explanation.

The company issued a statement on Twitter following reports that the app was experiencing a glitch that has left users unable to gain access to their accounts.

“We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologise for the inconvenience. #instagramdown,” the company said in its tweet.

Website Downdetector, which tracks issues with social media sites, said the problems started shortly after 4pm UAE time, with a huge spike at about 5pm.

The issues seem to be affecting users around the globe and Downdetector showed a high number of complaints from users in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Globally, there have been close to 8,000 complaints in the past hour.

Instagram users have also taken to Twitter to report complaints.

“Did anyone else's Instagram just get suspended for no reason? And now Instagram won't even bother to let you appeal it just gives you an error?” one user wrote.

Another said: “@instagram what is going on? My account literally got suspended for no reason I did not violate any community guidelines, and when I try to verify the code it’s just giving me a loading error. Is anybody else having this problem? #Instagram #instagramdown”

The hashtag #Instagramdown is currently trending on Twitter, with 23,000 tweets on the topic.

People having their accounts suspended will also mean that users will experience a significant drop in their number of followers.

“My Instagram account has just lost 1,000 followers in one go. Is this happening to anyone else #instagramdown.” one user wrote.

“Followers decreasing @instagram. Is it a glitch? Is anyone facing the same issues?” another user said.

Other users are reporting a surge in “bot accounts” following them and finding that names of their group chats have disappeared.

The issues come a week after fellow Meta-owned platform WhatsApp faced issues, with users unable to send and receive messages for more than two hours on Tuesday.

The issue affected users around the globe, with more than 10,000 people in the UAE reporting problems.