Instagram & Meta Policies: What You Need to Know

Overview

Instagram tracking comes with a few extra rules—but once your account is set up, you can track posts, measure performance, and monitor sentiment like any other platform. Here’s what you need to know to stay compliant and keep your data flowing.

Meta’s Rules for Instagram Tracking

To use Instagram with Keyhole’s Social Listening or Profile Analytics features, you’ll need to:

Connect a Business or Creator profile
Link it to a Facebook Page
Log in using the Facebook account that manages the Page
Re-authenticate every 90 days or after any password change

📌 You don’t need to actively use or promote the Facebook Page—it’s just a technical requirement from Meta.

Hashtag Tracking Limits

Meta limits each authenticated Instagram account to 30 unique hashtags in any rolling 7-day window.

What to keep in mind:

Every authenticated account adds 30 more hashtag slots
Once added, a hashtag counts toward your 30—even if you remove it
Hashtags expire from your quota 7 days after they were added, not removed
Adding the same hashtag again within 7 days does not reset the timer

Read Instagram's Platform Policies →

How to Authenticate Instagram for Social Listening

1. Go to Listening & Campaigns

2. Click Add New Tracker > Add Advanced Tracker

3. Enter your topic, select Instagram, and click Authenticate

4. Enter your Instagram credentials and grant permissions

5. Click Continue as [your name] to complete authentication

PRO TIP: Another way to add an account is by navigating to Profile > Settings > Connected Accounts and authenticating your Instagram account.

What Happens When You Hit the Hashtag Limit?

If you reach your 30-hashtag quota, you’ll see:

“You've reached the maximum number of hashtags to collect public mentions from Instagram. Please authenticate another Instagram account to continue collecting data.”

1. To continue tracking, click Authenticate another Instagram account

2. Click Log in with Instagram professional

Each new authenticated account adds 30 new hashtag slots.

How to Authenticate Instagram for Profile Analytics

1. Go to Profile Analytics in Keyhole

2. Click Add New Profile > Add Any Public Profile > Instagram

3. Authenticate by clicking Log in with Instagram professional

4. Once authenticated, you can monitor metrics such as:

Impressions
Engagement (likes, comments, shares)
Reach

These metrics are only available for authenticated accounts.

Re-Authenticating Your Account

Keyhole will notify you when re-authentication is needed—usually:

Every 90 days
After a password change

To restore tracking:

1. Click the Re-authenticate button in the notification

2. Follow the prompts to log in to Instagram and restore data collection

FAQs

Question	Answer
Can I track more than 30 hashtags?	Yes, authenticate additional Instagram accounts to add 30 more hashtags per account.
What if my Instagram token expires?	When your token expires (every 90 days or after a password change), re-authenticate by clicking the prompt in Keyhole to resume tracking.
Can I track private Instagram accounts?	No, Keyhole only tracks public Instagram Business and Creator accounts.
How often is Instagram data updated?	Keyhole refreshes Instagram data every 6 hours.
I have reached my hashtag limit (or will soon), what should I do?	Add a new Instagram account. Or, review and remove unused hashtags, but note they count toward your limit for 7 days after removal.
In advanced tracker settings, do "Do not include" hashtags count toward my limit?	No, only hashtags in the "Include" field count toward the limit.
I removed a hashtag, but my active count hasn’t changed. Is this a bug?	No. Instagram’s policy applies a 7-day rolling limit on removed hashtags. For example, if you remove a hashtag on September 10th and your active count is 30/30, the slot frees up on September 17th.