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24 Hour Rule and Automation flow instagram

Hi,

 

If I understand well: when I post on instagram with an automation flow (type the word and I’ll send you the link), it doesn’t send the automated link when it is after 24h, calculating from the first reaction. Correct?

How do you guys manage this, because it happens a lot and it’s not professional that the link does not follow after someone is tying the word in comments, even if it is 24h after the first comment… Do you have a best practice to share? 

Thanks! Inge

 

    1 reply

    SumGenius
    Forum|alt.badge.img
    • SumGenius
    • Smooth talker
    • October 14, 2026

    Hi Inge,

    Good news, that's not how the 24 hour rule works. A comment does not start a 24 hour clock, and the age of the post does not matter. Each person who comments opens their own private reply allowance tied to their own comment, and you have 7 days to use it. Someone commenting on a post from three months ago still gets the DM.

    The 24 hour window only controls what happens after that first DM. Follow-ups, an AI reply, a second message. A comment does not open a window. Only the person replying to your DM or tapping a button does.

    So when the link does not arrive, it is usually one of these two:

    1. It sent and they never saw it. If someone does not follow you, Instagram puts your DM in Message Requests, and when the same link-first message goes out to a lot of people Meta starts filtering it into the hidden Spam tab under requests. From your side that looks exactly like "it didn't send."
    2. The trigger only fires on a person's first comment on a given post. If they already commented on that post, a second comment with the keyword does nothing.

    Test you can try: have someone who already follows you comment the keyword, then someone who does not. If the follower gets it in their normal inbox and the non-follower sees nothing, it is delivery, not the 24 hour rule.

    If it turns out to be delivery, keep the link out of the first message. Send a short opener with a button, let them tap it, which pulls the chat into their real inbox, then send the link in message two.

    Hope that helps.

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