Instagram
Scraping Teardown
Find out everything you need to know to reliably scrape Instagram,
including scraping guides, Github Repos, proxy performance and more.
Instagram Web Scraping Overview
Instagram implements multiple layers of protection to prevent automated data extraction. This section provides an overview of its anti-bot systems and common challenges faced when scraping, along with insights into how these protections work and potential strategies to navigate them.
Scraping Summary
Instagram is a popular social media platform which allows users to share images and videos. It has a significant amount of data and therefore a popular target for web scraping. However, Instagram uses sophisticated anti-scraping mechanisms such as blocking suspicious IP addresses and excessive requests to protect its data. Navigating these features requires advanced web scraping techniques and tools. Web scraping Instagram involves dealing with Login, navigating through complex and dynamic JavaScript and handling AJAX calls. As a result, scraping Instagram present challenges both from an access (proxies, anti-scraping mechanisms, data behind login) and parsing (dynamic CSS, AJAX) perspective.
Best Instagram Proxies
Proxy statistics and optimal proxy providers for scraping Instagram. Learn which proxy types work best, their success rates, and how to minimize bans with the right provider.
Instagram Anti-Bots
Anti-scraping systems used by Instagram to prevent web scraping. These systems can make it harder and more expensive to scrape the website but can be bypassed with the right tools and strategies.
Instagram Data
Explore the key data types available for scraping and alternative methods such as public APIs, to streamline your web data extraction process.
Data Types
No data types found
Public APIs
API Description
Instagram's public API facilitates user profile, media, and comments access. The API is highly limited, for instance, users cannot access messages, followers, and other private data. Additionally, certain operations, such as following and unfollowing users, liking photos, and posting content, are not enabled through the API.
Access Requirements
In order to use the Instagram API, developers must register an application, adhere to Community Guidelines and follow special rules around data usage.
API Data Available
Why People Use Web Scraping?
Developers turn to web scraping for Instagram due to a lack of access to all desired data through the API. Although the API does provide access to basic profile data and media, the API does not provide access to a user's full public feed, their followers, messages, or other highly sought-after data.Furthermore, people resort to web scraping to perform actions that are disallowed via the API. Activities such as automating the process of liking photos, following users, or posting comments cannot be done through their API, hence the reason why developers resort to web scraping.
Instagram Web Scraping Legality
Understand the legal considerations before scraping Instagram. Review the website's robots.txt file, terms & conditions, and any past lawsuits to assess the risks. Ensure compliance with applicable laws and minimize the chances of legal action.
Legality Review
Instagram's robots.txt file and Terms of Service jointly reflect a restrictive stance on automated access. Instagram appears to provide limited leeway for automated crawling in specific cases, such as access to their api/graphql/ path by Adsbot; however, these are exceptions rather than the rule. Their terms explicitly forbid automated data collection without prior authorization. Though not an absolute legal barrier, these serve as the platform's expectations which could influence disputes, and public content scraping is generally considered legalized in many jurisdictions unless it involves bypassing access or authentication controls.
The legal risks associated with web scraping typically emerge from accessing content secured behind logins, collecting personal data, and circumventing platform controls. In the context of Instagram, these risks are further accentuated as users generally explicitly consent to their terms during account setup, and bypassing measures such as logins, rate limiting, or CAPTCHAs are strictly forbidden. Therefore, when scraping publicly available content, developers must pay close attention to respectful crawling, avoiding sections that are protected as specified by robots.txt, and mindful handling of any personal or copyright protected data, while complying with Instagram's scraping restrictions unless authorized or done through their official APIs.
Instagram Robots.txt
Does Instagram robot.txt permit web scraping?
Summary
The robots.txt file for Instagram indicates a complex interplay between access permissions for automated crawlers. It includes various Disallow: / and Disallow: /<user> directives that create restrictions on main and user-specific sections of the website. These rules are generally applicable to all user agents as defined under User-agent: *, albeit with a few different paths being disallowed for specific bots like Adsbot.
Yet, there are instances where certain paths are allowed but under specific conditions. The allowances include an example such as Allow: /api/graphql/ for Adsbot. These sections might gain selective access depending on the bot's identity. On the whole, Instagram’s robots.txt embodies a stance that permits limited access under specific conditions for web scraping. Despite this, there are clear restrictions in place, limiting the data availability for standard web scrapers.
Instagram Terms & Conditions
Does Instagram Terms & Conditions permit web scraping?
Summary
The terms of service for Instagram include explicit statements about automated access and data extraction. The terms state:
"You may not access or collect data from our Products using automated means (without our prior permission) or attempt to access data you do not have permission to access."
This covers scraping, crawling, or other automated collection across both public pages and logged-in areas unless prior permission is granted. While enforceability can depend on whether a user has explicitly agreed (for example, by creating an account or otherwise assenting to the terms), Instagram/Meta frames this restriction as broadly applicable to use of the service.
Instagram provides official APIs (such as the Instagram Graph API and Basic Display API) for authorized access subject to scopes, rate limits, and policy compliance. The terms and related policies indicate that bypassing barriers like login requirements, rate limiting, or CAPTCHAs is not permitted, and they reserve consequences such as IP blocking, content removal, account suspension or termination, and potential legal action. Practically, scraping is forbidden unless done with prior express permission or through the official APIs under their specific conditions.
Instagram Lawsuits
Legal Actions Against Scrapers: A history of lawsuits filed by the website owner against scrapers and related entities, highlighting legal disputes, claims, and outcomes.
Lawsuits Summary
Instagram has not been involved in any known legal disputes related to web scraping.
Found 0 lawsuits
Instagram Github Repos
Find the best open-source scrapers for Instagram on Github. Clone them and start scraping straight away.
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Stars
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Instagram Web Scraping Articles
Find the best web scraping articles for Instagram. Learn how to get started scraping Instagram.
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Instagram Web Scraping Videos
Find the best web scraping videos for Instagram. Learn how to get started scraping Instagram.