I have nothing else to say but that Manychat got my Instagram account banned.
MANYCHAT Got my Instagram account banned
+7Hey
Now, most likely, it wasn’t Manychat’s fault. Instead, what you were doing probably went against Instagram’s policies, and that’s what got you banned. Manychat Automations just helped you get banned faster (because you could break the policies more efficiently).
We’ve run very active 1M+ followers Instagram accounts connected to Manychat for years, and we never had any issues or blockages.
If you obey the policies and are aware of the limitations (for example you have to be extra careful if your posts go viral), you will not have issues.
When you get your account back, I suggest you review exactly what you were doing, and check that against Instagram’s policies. Once you identify what ‘grey’ areas you were working with, adjust your content and strategies to make sure they’re 100% compliant. And then go ahead and automate.
If you do that you won’t have any issues.
I have had this account for over 10 years. I have been in this industry for over that. I can assure you, I have no broken any Instagram policy. I have not used any other automation/bots nor created any other accounts, or anything listed under this policy. I only create travel content, which I have been since opening this account in 2005.
I have no control over how viral a post goes. Manychat should have systems in place to prevent this as the one “authorized” to automate and has internal knowledge that this may occur. You are already implying that it is Manychat’s fault by saying “I need to be aware of the limitation and being careful of a post going viral” because Manychat can cause you getting your account disabled if a video goes viral.
My account has been permanently disabled and I know exactly what I was doing wrong: Using Manychat.
Same here. Manychat also got our account banned on the same day as yours.
10+ years without a single ban.
The automation for comments is being detected by meta as illegal and the account is getting banned because of manychat.
I contacted manychat by email and all i got was the same response as if we didnt know the instagram policies. Over 10 years doing the same here.
+3Hey,
I can completely feel your frustration and how devastating it is to lose an account you have built and nurtured for over ten years. 🫠
To clear up how this works, Manychat is an official Meta Business Partner and operates entirely within Meta's official guidelines. Meta does not ban accounts simply for connecting to Manychat, as the platform is explicitly authorized by them to handle messaging/ comment automation.
However, when an account experiences a sudden, massive surge in any activity (which often happens when a post goes viral) Meta's internal, automated spam algorithms can sometimes trigger a false positive. Even when you are following all the rules perfectly, Meta's automated security systems can occasionally misinterpret a rapid burst of identical outbound messages or comments as unnatural behavior.
I have actually run into similar issues myself in the past with automatic replies to comments triggering Meta's filters, which resulted in some of my high-engagement accounts getting restricted/blocked. Today, I use a workaround to protect my accounts: I create two similar triggers for comment automations… one that posts a public reply to the comment and another one that does not. Whenever a post shows signs of going viral, we immediately switch the automation to the trigger that does not reply to the comment. This allows us to keep the system running without entering Meta's spam filter. 😉
It is also worth noting that Meta seems to be going through some internal changes lately, as I have seen several other long-standing profiles being wrongfully blocked over the past few weeks.
And there is unfortunately nothing the Manychat team can do directly regarding the ban itself. You will need to contact Meta support directly and explain what happened. If you have always operated within their guidelines, they usually reactivate the account once a manual review takes place.
What you could still do is check with Manychat’s support team to see if they have an alternative way to reach Meta Support for help with your issue. Some BSPs offer this kind of assistance.
Hope this helps! 🙏
+3hey
As Gustavo and Fabio mentioned above, Manychat is an official Meta partner, fully approved for use with Instagram and operating within Meta's API guidelines. Using Manychat to automate comment replies shouldn't by itself trigger a ban. You can read more about this here: Is Manychat officially approved by Instagram?
On viral posts specifically
Manychat does have a throttling mechanism in place precisely for viral posts. When a post blows up, instead of firing replies all at once (which would trip Instagram's spam detection), Manychat spaces them out to stay within Meta's rate limits — 750 private reply API calls per hour for Instagram professional accounts. Manychat caps Comment Triggers at 12 requests per 60 seconds for exactly this reason.
More technical detail here: Meta Graph API Rate Limiting
On the "fake accounts" ban reason
This part is worth paying attention to, because it's a separate signal. Instagram's "fake accounts" violation is typically triggered by account behavior patterns — things like mass follows/unfollows, coordinated engagement signals, or content that Instagram's systems flag as inauthentic — rather than by comment reply automation. This suggests the restriction reason may point to something outside of what Manychat controls.
A quick question did you only appeal using the in-app option? Please try appealing via the Help Center or directly to the Oversight Board if you haven’t.
Hi,
I want to be clear: I have not engaged in any of the behaviors mentioned — no mass following, no unfollowing campaigns, nothing of the sort. I have been an Instagram user for over 10 years and have followed fewer than 10 accounts in the past year. The only change to my activity was using ManyChat.
Advising me to disable my campaigns after my account has already been permanently banned is not helpful — there is nothing left to disable.
If ManyChat's automation is triggering Instagram's fraud detection and resulting in permanent bans, then ManyChat has a responsibility to warn its users — and the fact that it doesn't feels like a deliberate omission.
I'd also like to address the claim that ManyChat throttles auto-replies to stay within Instagram's limits. If that is true — if ManyChat is actively managing activity to remain compliant — then why are accounts like mine getting permanently banned for fraud and deception? You cannot claim your tool is safe and Instagram-compliant while users are losing their accounts for using it. Those two things cannot both be true.
Let me be very clear about what is happening here, because the responses in this thread are starting to feel completely disconnected from reality.
Our Instagram account @kosta_bravissimo has been unable to send direct messages to users who comment asking for prices for over 10 days. This is not a “theoretical policy discussion” — this is an active business failure that is causing us significant financial losses every single day.
These are not spam actions, mass outreach, or aggressive automation. These are warm leads commenting under our own posts, explicitly asking for pricing. And yet, we are unable to reply to them through Direct Messages at all.
We have already contacted Meta support multiple times. The only response we receive is generic instructions to “report a problem” through buttons inside the app. That is not support.
We also purchased Meta Verified specifically to get access to real support channels. It changed nothing. Neither Instagram support nor Facebook Ads support is taking ownership of the issue — everyone simply redirects responsibility elsewhere.
At this point, what we are left with is a situation where:
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we cannot message interested customers on our own account
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support channels refuse to investigate properly
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and no one is able to confirm or fix why a core messaging function is blocked
If a business account cannot respond to people who comment under its own posts asking for prices, then something is fundamentally broken.
What makes this worse is that no one is willing to acknowledge or investigate the actual account-level restriction. Instead, the issue is being treated as if it does not exist or is self-inflicted, while the financial damage continues to grow.
We are not asking for generic policy explanations. We are asking for someone to actually look at the account @kosta_bravissimo and explain why direct communication with potential customers is effectively disabled.
Adding my voice to this thread because
Some context on my side:
I run a medically-led menopause and hormone optimization business with operations across the USA, UK, and UAE. My primary Instagram account has 572K+ followers and is the core lead generation engine for a seven-figure business that does six figures of revenue every month on IG, heavily reliant on Instagram DMs to communicate with both leads and existing clients.
ManyChat has been a critical part of our funnel for 5 years. We've recommended it to multiple peers in the space on the explicit promise that it's an official Meta Business Partner and therefore safe to use at scale.
Here's what just happened to us..
One of our reels recently hit 1 million views, 12,000+ comments, 5,000 new followers in 48 hours, and over 16,000 shares. Exactly the kind of viral event ManyChat is built to capitalise on.
The result?
Our Instagram account has now been banned from sending DMs for 30 days straight. Flagged as spam. No prior warning. No notification from ManyChat that we should pause or adjust the flow during a viral spike. No advisory that high-velocity comment-to-DM automation during viral moments would trigger Meta's spam filters.
We were NEVER told to switch ManyChat off.
The flows we were running are 100% within both ManyChat's and Meta's documented guidelines for keyword automations. They were the same flows we'd been running safely for yeasr. The only variable that changed was the volume.
This is the result:
30 days unable to DM our paying clients.
30 days unable to DM the 5,000 new women who followed us during that viral moment.
30 days of leads going cold, calls not booking, and revenue actively walking out the door because we can't reach the people who literally asked us to message them.
For a business that generates six figures a month largely through Instagram DMs, this is not an inconvenience. This is a material operational crisis.
Manychat sells itself as an official Meta Business Partner, fully authorized and safe. Operators build seven-figure businesses on that promise. When viral velocity triggers Meta false positives and accounts get banned, the current response — "contact Meta directly, we can't help" — does not match the marketing.
Four things that would meaningfully help operators at scale:
1. A clear, public advisory that viral velocity through ManyChat automations is a known Meta risk factor — so we can plan and pre-empt instead of getting blindsided.
2. A built-in "viral protection mode" that auto-throttles outbound velocity once an account crosses comment/DM thresholds.
3. A dedicated Meta escalation channel for verified BSP customers at risk of false-positive bans during viral events.
4. Transparent documentation of what ManyChat can and cannot advocate for on user accounts when this happens.
I'm not pointing fingers. I'm flagging a structural gap between what ManyChat markets and what ManyChat supports when its automations are operating exactly as designed during a viral spike.
The customer base ManyChat has now includes operators running seven and eight-figure businesses on Instagram. The support infrastructure and Meta-side advocacy needs to mature with the user base.
Genuinely interested in hearing the ManyChat team's view on this. If anyone from the team is reading: PLEASE listen to your customers, This is a material operational crisis. for my company. I'd welcome a 15-minute call to discuss this from a power user's perspective. Happy to share specifics on what we saw and what would have prevented it.
My email address is support@daveymaherfitness.com
What is extremely frustrating is that there were no visible warnings when connecting Instagram and launching automations. I started using a paid service that was already experiencing issues, without being informed about the risks.
Shortly after connecting ManyChat, our Instagram account @kosta_bravissimo lost the ability to send messages to people who comment asking for prices. More than 10 days later, the problem still exists and our business is losing money every single day.
What makes this even worse is that support keeps insisting that ManyChat cannot be responsible, while your own status page confirms there has been an ongoing Instagram-related issue for months.
At this point, it is very difficult to believe that this is just a coincidence.
I am not claiming that ManyChat intentionally caused this. However, I connected my Instagram account to a platform that was experiencing a known issue, received no warning about it, and shortly afterward my account's ability to communicate with potential customers was effectively broken.
We are paying customers, we purchased Meta Verified, we contacted Meta support, Instagram support and Facebook Ads support. Nobody can explain what happened, nobody can fix it, and meanwhile our business continues to lose revenue.
Simply saying "ManyChat is an official Meta partner" does not answer the question of why this happened immediately after using your platform and during a period when your own status page showed unresolved Instagram issues.
The thing is, the feature that sends messages to new customers from comments works ONLY with your service. Your AI agent suggested this to me, and it actually works. But we no longer want to use your service; you’re just hiding this fact everywhere - you screwed up, and it’s entirely your fault!
So what should we do? I’d definitely like to completely remove your product’s influence from my company’s account! What should I do now - disable the integration?
Hey developers, who's going to fix this? Where's your feedback?
+3Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge this thread properly, and thank you all for taking the time to share what you're experiencing in detail.
I'm taking everything shared in this thread back to the team and working on a more thorough response. I'll be back here ASAP with more substance.
In the meantime, if anyone hasn't yet submitted an appeal through Meta's Help Center or the Oversight Board, please do that remains the most direct path to account recovery while we look into what we can do on our end.
Thank you for your patience!
Hey everyone!
My name is David and I’m a Sr. PMM at Manychat. I just want to let you know the actions we’ve taken to help.
1. We’ve submitted these cases to Meta. For those of you who have reached out, and shared your story with us, we’ve passed on this information to our Partner Managers at Meta. We are citing your accounts specifically in our reports. Your experiences are not going unnoticed.
2. Meta is working with us to find a solution for these false positive bans and suspensions. We are working directly with Meta’s engineering and policy teams to find what’s causing these bans to happen and to determine a solution. Accounts that are abiding by the rules should not experience these bans. We know that doesn't undo the disruption you're facing right now, but it does mean this is being taken seriously at the platform level.
3. Meta has confirmed Manychat use is not the cause of this ban. We work with Meta every day and we have a joint goal to increase Manychat adoption. Manychat also has safeguards in place to prevent your account from running into Meta policy issues. We are an official Meta Business Partner, and the platform is fully authorized for comment and DM automation.
Meta has reiterated that accounts are not banned for using Manychat, but we want to do everything we can to help you during this frustrating time. Our main goal is to help you find success and monetize the content you make on Instagram.
Please be rest assured that we're here to help and support you to get it resolved.
David, with all due respect, this response feels like another attempt to avoid the main question.
What I keep hearing is:
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Meta isn't responsible.
-
Manychat isn't responsible.
-
Nobody is responsible.
Meanwhile, businesses are losing money and nobody can explain what is actually happening.
You still haven't answered the most important question.
Why is it that Manychat can send a message to a new user who comments on our post, but our own team, with direct access to the Instagram account, cannot?
This is the part nobody from Manychat or Meta seems willing to address.
For more than 10 days, our managers have been unable to manually contact people who ask for prices under our posts. Yet when we reconnect Manychat, messages suddenly start going out through your system.
If the problem has nothing to do with Manychat, how is that possible?
I'm not asking whether Manychat is an official Meta Partner.
I'm not asking whether Meta approved the API.
I'm asking a very simple technical question:
Why does your integration have the ability to reach these users when the account owner does not?
Because from our perspective, that's exactly what we're seeing.
Our business account @kosta_bravissimo cannot communicate with interested customers manually, but it can communicate with them through Manychat.
Can someone finally explain that specific behavior instead of repeating that Manychat and Meta are both not responsible?
At this point, we need answers, not reassurances.
Hey
Manychat connects to Instagram through Meta's official API, which operates under a separate permission layer. As an approved vendor of Meta, even when Meta restricts an account, those restrictions don't always apply uniformly across all access methods which is why API-based messaging may still work while manual messaging is blocked.
Normally users are allowed to as well unless they are facing a ban which it sounds like you are. This is Meta's restriction on your account, not something Manychat caused or controls.
That said, we've flagged your case to Meta and are actively working to get this resolved.
A few specific responses to what you shared:
On Point 1 (cases submitted to Meta): Submitting reports is appreciated, but submission ≠ resolution. Can you share publicly how many false-positive ban cases have been successfully reversed through Manychat's advocacy in the last 90 days? Even an approximate number would help operators understand what "advocacy" actually achieves.
On Point 2 (working with Meta engineering and policy): Glad this is happening. Two questions:**
What's the realistic timeline operators should expect for a resolution to false-positive bans during viral events?
Will Manychat commit to publishing a transparent update on this work e.g., a public status page or quarterly update so operators aren't left wondering?
On Point 3 (Meta confirmed Manychat is not the cause): I hear you and I'm not arguing Manychat directly caused my ban. But there's a structural issue worth naming: when Manychat's normal, documented, fully authorized automations run during a viral spike and the result is a Meta-side false-positive ban, operators have nowhere to turn.**
Right now, the customer experience is:
Manychat: "It's not us, contact Meta"
Meta: "We can't override the system, submit an appeal"
In-app appeal: "Page not available" or auto-rejected
Result: 30 days of operational damage with no recourse
What I'm asking for isn't blame. It's structural improvement:
1. Pre-emptive risk warnings on Manychat's side when an account's reel/post triggers high comment velocity. (You have this data.)
2. A "Viral Protection Mode" that auto-throttles when comment velocity exceeds a defined threshold.
3. A dedicated escalation channel for verified BSP customers facing false-positive bans during viral events not a generic ticket queue.
4. Public documentation of what Manychat can and cannot do on a customer's behalf when these bans happen, so operators can make informed risk decisions.
I'm a five-year customer. I've referred multiple operators to Manychat. I want this platform to work. But the gap between what Manychat markets (safe scaling on Meta) and what Manychat supports (when scaling triggers false positives) needs to close.
A 15-minute call with the right person at Manychat to share specifics from a power-user perspective remains on the table. Email is support@daveymaherfitness.com. IG account effected= @daveymaher_fitness
Thanks for engaging publicly. Looking forward to specifics.
Thank you. This is actually the first concrete answer anyone from Manychat has given in this thread.
But your explanation creates an even bigger concern.
You are confirming that API-based messaging can continue to work while manual messaging is blocked.
In other words, a business owner can lose the ability to communicate with customers directly, while Manychat can still communicate with those same customers through the API.
Why is there no warning about this risk?
Why is this not clearly disclosed before connecting Instagram and launching automations?
And why has there been an Instagram-related incident on your status page for more than 90 days while customers continue to discover these problems only after their businesses are affected? https://status.manychat.com/cmmxljn3s01ntuud42lsa7zud?
Our account @kosta_bravissimo has already suffered significant financial losses.
What frustrates me most is that for days we were told "Manychat has nothing to do with it," yet now we learn there are situations where Manychat retains messaging capabilities that the account owner no longer has.
That is exactly the kind of information users should know before trusting a third-party platform with a critical part of their business.
I have nothing else to say but that Manychat got my Instagram account banned.
Many chat also just got my account shadow banned and no longer able to send DMs after it send a bunch of DMs from viral post Instagram flagged my account and I’m no longer able to send DMs if you guys are partners with meta why is this happening? This is definitely many chats fault for allowing it’s system to push past the point it’s allowed
Thank you. This is actually the first concrete answer anyone from Manychat has given in this thread.
But your explanation creates an even bigger concern.
You are confirming that API-based messaging can continue to work while manual messaging is blocked.
In other words, a business owner can lose the ability to communicate with customers directly, while Manychat can still communicate with those same customers through the API.
Why is there no warning about this risk?
Why is this not clearly disclosed before connecting Instagram and launching automations?
And why has there been an Instagram-related incident on your status page for more than 90 days while customers continue to discover these problems only after their businesses are affected? https://status.manychat.com/cmmxljn3s01ntuud42lsa7zud?
Our account @kosta_bravissimo has already suffered significant financial losses.
What frustrates me most is that for days we were told "Manychat has nothing to do with it," yet now we learn there are situations where Manychat retains messaging capabilities that the account owner no longer has.
That is exactly the kind of information users should know before trusting a third-party platform with a critical part of their business.
This is fully many chats fault I’m not sure why they are acting like it’s not? If they are partners with meta like they claims why are they getting accounts banned and shadow banned for using there automations
+3Hi all, thank you for following up here. To clarify, Manychat doesn’t have any way to ban your IG account.
Just to reiterate we have no visibility regarding Meta’s internal processes after flagging them hence we’re not able to share any timeline, retrieval and such.
What I can tell you is that your improvement suggestions pre-emptive risk warnings, viral protection mode, a dedicated escalation path for BSP customers, and transparent documentation, I’m passing those to the right people internally.
I know they have no way of banning you but your system that is supposed to be partnered with meta deftly is faulty and now I’m no longer able to send DMs to new people for 30 days this has happen to multiple people not being able to send DMs to people is going to kill sales by 90%
Honestly, at this point it feels like Manychat's entire strategy is to avoid responsibility and repeat the same talking points over and over.
For days we've heard:
"It's Meta."
"It's not Manychat."
"Contact Meta."
Meanwhile your own status page shows an ongoing Instagram-related issue that has been under investigation since March 17.
I've mentioned this multiple times and nobody from Manychat has addressed it.
If you know there is a risk that accounts can lose manual messaging capabilities while API messaging continues to work, why is there no warning before connecting Instagram?
Why is there no timeout, safety mechanism, or automatic pause when these issues occur?
Why are users discovering this only after their businesses are already damaged?
The reality is that businesses are losing customers and revenue while Manychat continues to collect subscription fees and point fingers at Meta.
Your latest explanation actually confirms the problem: Manychat can continue messaging users through the API while the account owner cannot communicate with those same users manually.
That should be setting off alarm bells inside your company.
What concerns me most is that this issue has apparently been known for months, yet there are no visible warnings during onboarding, no proactive notifications, and no clear risk disclosures.
From the outside, it looks like a small percentage of affected customers are simply being treated as acceptable collateral damage as long as the platform continues to grow.
I would love to be proven wrong, but so far all we've received are explanations about who is not responsible instead of concrete actions to protect customers from this situation.
https://status.manychat.com/cmmxljn3s01ntuud42lsa7zud
Honestly, at this point it feels like Manychat's entire strategy is to avoid responsibility and repeat the same talking points over and over.
For days we've heard:
"It's Meta."
"It's not Manychat."
"Contact Meta."
Meanwhile your own status page shows an ongoing Instagram-related issue that has been under investigation since March 17.
I've mentioned this multiple times and nobody from Manychat has addressed it.
If you know there is a risk that accounts can lose manual messaging capabilities while API messaging continues to work, why is there no warning before connecting Instagram?
Why is there no timeout, safety mechanism, or automatic pause when these issues occur?
Why are users discovering this only after their businesses are already damaged?
The reality is that businesses are losing customers and revenue while Manychat continues to collect subscription fees and point fingers at Meta.
Your latest explanation actually confirms the problem: Manychat can continue messaging users through the API while the account owner cannot communicate with those same users manually.
That should be setting off alarm bells inside your company.
What concerns me most is that this issue has apparently been known for months, yet there are no visible warnings during onboarding, no proactive notifications, and no clear risk disclosures.
From the outside, it looks like a small percentage of affected customers are simply being treated as acceptable collateral damage as long as the platform continues to grow.
I would love to be proven wrong, but so far all we've received are explanations about who is not responsible instead of concrete actions to protect customers from this situation.
https://status.manychat.com/cmmxljn3s01ntuud42lsa7zud
Yep you are 100% right why is there no warning why wouldn’t they have something in place where it doesn’t get flagged by meta. Many chat sent over 800 DMs for me then after that it shadow banned me then stopped allowing me to send messages to new people and it’s been stuck like that and many chat has ignored everything I’ve sent to them
I still can not dm people are we gonna fix this or?
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