Repeated Instagram and Facebook account suspensions on iPhone

Meta can ban any user they wish and don't even need to disclose the reason for the ban. In most cases the user does know the reason, but may not agree with it and Meta still does not have to allow you to use their service. There are 3 types of bans that can be used:

• Account Ban - Creating a new account is allowed with this type of ban
• IP Address - Any device operating from the same network will be banned
• Device Ban - That device will no longer be able to be used with their service. Changing devices and continuing to attempt to use the same Facebook/Instagram account will likely ban that device too.

The same types of bans are also seen on other Social Media platforms, such as SnapChat. You can review the terms of use for Instagram here and there are also similar terms for Facebook and the Meta platforms in general.

We can refuse to provide or stop providing all or part of the Service to you (including terminating or disabling your access to the Meta Products and Meta Company Products) immediately to protect our community or services, or if you create risk or legal exposure for us, violate these Terms of Use or our policies (including our  Community Standards), if you repeatedly infringe other people's intellectual property rights, or where we are permitted or required to do so by law. We can also terminate or change the Service, remove or block content or information shared on our Service, or stop providing all or part of the Service if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts on us. If you believe your account has been terminated in error, or you want to disable or permanently delete your account, consult our Help Center. 

https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870/?helpref=hc_fnav

The bottom line is that there is nothing Apple can do and the choice to allow you to use their service is entirely up to Meta. It has nothing to do with your Apple Account. They have many methods to determine exactly who you are through the information you have allowed Meta to collect. They are collecting a massive amount of data about you, which is how they report billions of dollars of revenue while they let you use their service for free. Even with a device from a completely different manufacturer, they can still determine you are attempting to workaround their previous ban and that one will be blocked as well. We have even seen where users have purchased a used device that was banned and they are not allowed to use the service either.

Meta is going to be your best resource, although I am well aware that the Customer Support is poor. You will not be able to use the same Instagram/Facebook account no matter what method they used, unless they removed the restriction on that account and that is unlikely.

You have invested personally and professionally with a company that does not want to do business with you. That is the biggest barrier that you will have to overcome. An IP Address ban is the least likely to be used exclusively as that is easily changed by simply using a cellular connection where your reported IP Address would be different, and not very effective from a business standpoint where a company wants to prevent access.

With a new device, not only would you not want to attempt to sign into your previous account on it, they will also be looking for any other identifiable information. For example, when you use the Facebook/Instagram app, they are going to ask for permission to access your Contacts. One of the contacts is identified as you with your phone number and any information added in that contact that can then be used to see that you are attempting to bypass their ban. It may still be an uphill battle even with a new device.

There is no one way to bypass a ban that will be effective and that is by design. As more legislation is being introduced to hold Social Media companies accountable for the actions of its users along with their safety, the less likely you will be able to bypass any enforcement action taken for a violation of its Terms of Use.

This is a user to user forum, so Apple is not here other than for moderation purposes.

I do not use Facebook, nor Instagram, so I do not know what their policies are or how they conduct their security. The first thing that comes to mind is are any of your activities in violation of their services, or could be construed as such by them? Maybe it is just what the accounts are being used for that are triggering something.

You are welcome to contact Apple but I would not be optimistic since they might be unlikely to want to discuss corporate policy and security issues about anybody. This support article has various country telephone numbers for contacting Apple for support and service ➔ Contact Apple Support - Apple Support For some countries look under “Other” listing at the end of each region. Not every country has telephone support.

Aus05tralia wrote:

But what I took away from your comment is that Instagram might be picking up on my device AND phone number, in which case you think I might be able to resolve the issue by getting a new device AND a new phone number?

I used the example of Instagram/Facebook asking for your permission on a new device to access your Contacts and if you give them permission, they can see the phone number for your Contact. They certainly do not publish every method they use to identify a user looking to bypass a ban as that would not be in their best interest. I suspect a new device/phone number would work for a while, unless you slipped up and provided some identifiable information that they could use that was linked to your previously banned account.

Devices have identifiers such as IMEI or MAC (not to be confused with a computer brand) numbers. I would think that once one of those has been tied to your banned accounts then a ban could be applied to connections to any device where they can identify a device in using code information. I think it likely that any "easy" workarounds have already been figured out by the IT security people at those companies.

As I said earlier, it might behoove you to try to find out why you are getting banned by those services. I know that Apple's reasons for banning accounts are somewhat vague. People may be trying to do something that they may think isn't that bad, but Apple's systems may construe as something against their terms. In the end though, if this was about a banned Apple Account, Apple also won't tell you why an account is banned, just that it is.

The people on these boards are mostly other customers. Click here and ask Apple Support for assistance.

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