Lots of Instagram users are receiving an error message that says ‘automated behavior’ has been detected, but what does that mean?
This message started appearing in accounts around the globe as early as May. Twitter is where many have turned to for answers.
One person wrote: “Why does Instagram keep giving me (and other people apparently) an automated behavior warning?”
“I got an ‘Instagram automated behavior detected” warning but it makes no sense? I don’t use any 3rd party apps,” said another.
Read on to find out what’s going on…
What are the automated actions on Instagram?
A third party app, platform or bot will automatically do things in your Instagram account.
Instagram calls this process ‘data scraping’ which is the automated access and collection of data from a website or app.
You could, for example, use automation to increase your followers or your comments.
Third-party websites can sometimes gain unauthorised access and start scraping data without your consent.
This goes against Instagram’s rules
Your account can be restricted and flagged for further review if Instagram detects this activity as it goes against their Terms of Use.
“Unauthorised scraping involves automation to collect information in violation of our Terms of Service,” the platform says.
They further add the automated behavior is “often done in a way that disguises the activity so that it blends in with ordinary usage”.
Their terms don’t allow you to collect information in unauthorised ways and their are teams dedicated to ensuring this doesn’t happen.
Instagram could have a bug
Instagram hasn’t addressed the message when writing this. The message could have been a social media bug.
Many claim that they do not use any automated behaviors but still receive the detection message.
The error message could be coming up by mistake due to an Instagram glitch, in which cause you don’t need to worry.
For example, a few weeks ago, an Instagram error made it look like everyone went Live on the site when they didn’t really.
Instagram suggests that you use some caution to prevent unauthorised data scraping from your account.
Included in this is: