Banned Instagram Hashtags Includes #Books

Hi everyone! A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted my surprise at learning that #books has been banned on Instagram. I had just posted a picture there and noticed that it hadn’t appeared in a hashtag feed. After searching online, it turns out that quite a few hashtags are banned/broken on Instagram. Since the start of 2018, some of the popular hashtags affected by this include:

#beautyblogger

#beyonce

#books

#woman

You can find the full list of banned hashtags here.

One of the hashtags I had used on my post was #books. If you search for this hashtag on Instagram, here’s what appears:

As I had used this particular hashtag on my post, it meant that only my followers were able to see my picture. Once I edited the post and removed #books, it showed up in the ‘Most Recent’ feeds for the other hashtags I had also used.

I’m not sure how long recent posts from #books will be hidden on Instagram. For now, though, if you are on Bookstagram it’s best to avoid using #books on your future posts. If you have noticed a decrease in engagement recently, it could be because you’ve used one these broken hashtags. You can always search for a hashtag on Instagram to see whether it’s working or not before posting a photo.

One other thing I’ve also learnt is that if you use hashtags in your comments instead of your caption, the picture won’t show up in the ‘Most Recent’ section for any hashtags.

As always, let me know your thoughts! Are you a Bookstagrammer who is affected by this?

Update: #books is working again!