
If the profile you’re trying to find on Instagram has been suspended, you won’t see an indicator like on other social media such as Twitter. In most cases, these bans last for a limited time, but they can also be permanent, depending on the violation. These violations can include abusing another account, inappropriate behavior, but also buying likes and followers, using automation tools to like or comment aggressively, etc. Namely, whenever a person violates Instagram’s terms of service, they can get automatically suspended for a certain period. One of the reasons for getting the “User not found” message is that the user you’re trying to find has been banned or suspended from Instagram. The User Has Been Banned or Suspended From Instagram If you’ve managed to find the username, but the profile doesn’t belong to the person you’re looking for, they most likely deleted their account or changed the username. When a person deletes their account, their username becomes available to everyone else. There’s another way to determine if a person has permanently disabled their account, but it doesn’t always work. Unfortunately, there’s no way to establish whether that’s permanent or temporary. If they can’t find it, chances are the person has disabled their account. The best way to check this is to ask one of your friends with an Instagram profile to look up the person whose profile you’re trying to find. In such cases, you’ll get the “User not found” message. This also means the account won’t appear in the search results or under Followers or Following lists. When a user does this, their profile, content, and all likes and comments get deleted. Many people decide they don’t want to use Instagram anymore and shut down their accounts permanently. The User Has Permanently Disabled Their Account Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t provide details on whether a particular account has been disabled. You can confirm whether this is the reason you’re seeing this message by asking one of your mutual followers to look up the profile you’re trying to access. If a person has temporarily disabled their account and you’re trying to look them up, you’ll see the “User not found” message.


While it’s enough for some people to simply not open Instagram, others prefer disabling the account. This is a convenient option for everyone who wants to take a break from social media and return whenever they’re ready. Instagram allows users to “shut down” their accounts temporarily.

The User Has Temporarily Disabled Their Account

You’ll likely be able to recognize the profile photo or the name. Check the Following or Followers lists – If you’re trying to find a person with whom you share followers, you can go to one of the mutual followers’ profiles and search for their name.Check other social media platforms – Check the person’s Facebook or Snapchat profiles and see whether they’ve updated their information.Here’s how you can confirm this is the problem: So, if you tried to look up the person using their old username, you may receive the “User not found” message because, technically, that location doesn’t exist anymore. Although Instagram usually redirects the user to a new location, that might not always happen. When the person changes their username, their Instagram “location” changes as well. How is this possible? Namely, Instagram uses a person’s username as the basis of the URL that leads to their profile. If the user you’re trying to look up changed their username, you may see the “User not found” message. Contrary to other social media, Instagram makes changing a username very easy, regardless of the platform.
