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What To Do If You Can't Log In To Your Instagram Account

A whole slew of Instagram users were freaking out on Thursday, and it actually had nothing to do with the Rob Kardashian/Blac Chyna debacle of Wednesday. It seems many people attempted to log in to their account and were thwarted. But not to worry everyone: If you can't log in to your Instagram or get a message saying your account is unavailable, don't immediately assume your account has been deleted altogether. It turns out that a bug has reportedly left some accounts locked.

The social media giant, which is owned by Facebook, saw a deluge of frustrated users on Thursday who tried to log in to their accounts and found themselves facing one of three messages:

The username you entered doesn't belong to an account. Please check your username and try again.
Error: Your account has been disabled for violating our terms. Learn how you may be able to restore your account.
Enter your security code.

According to Buzzfeed News, a bug in the Instagram system temporarily logged users out of their accounts. A spokesperson for Instagram told the news outlet that the company is working to correct the issue:

No accounts have been deleted. However, the bug logged some users out of their accounts, while also locking their accounts from view. When the bug is fixed and affected users are able to log back in, their accounts will be viewable again.

People who saw their accounts temporarily "deleted" are justifiable irritated, particularly considering Instagram didn't give customers a heads-up that there was an issue initially. Considering how many people head to Instagram not only for personal use, but also for business promotions, it has caused a real problem for those businesses who rely on access to their online followers to make transactions in the real world.

While it remains unclear exactly how many accounts have been affected by the temporary lockout, a spokesperson for Instagram told The Consumerist that only a small percentage of users were affected by the bug. But what to do if you happen to be one of those customers??

If you open the app on your phone and follow the prompts onscreen to recover your security information. In some cases, a security code will be texted to your number... unfortunately several users have reported that this recovery system hasn't worked for them specifically.

Hopefully Instagram will have worked out the problem sooner rather than later, and we can all get back to our lives online.

And not that I want to point any fingers or anything, but I find it oddly suspicious that Instagram accounts appeared deleted the day after Rob Kardashian's Instagram meltdown over Blac Chyna.... just saying.