Are trust scores attached to the account or to the @handle, or both?

It was my understanding that trust scores are attached to an Instagram account, but not to the @handle.

For example, let’s say I have a really low trust score on an account called @AccountABC.

Let’s say I was upset with my low trust score so I decide to start over and make a completely new Instagram account (on a new phone and IP, so there would be no trace to the old account).

So, on a new phone I make another account, but I decide I want to keep the original handle because I liked it, so I name the new account @AccountABC (this means I first switch the name to a different one on the original account).

My question is: Since I made a brand new account, in theory the trust score should reset to the default trust score for a new account. BUT, since I am using a handle that previously had a low trust score, will the new account take on the low trust score? In other words, are trust scores attached to a @handle ?

To me, There is 99% chance your trustscore has been resetted

My theory is that they can’t do other way, there are people waiting for handle to free to take them

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I agree, but I could hear the counter-argument that IG wants to prevent someone who has been marked as spam from doing exactly what I did. Make a new account and switch the name over. They might be trying to prevent that, and thus transferring the low trust score with the @handle

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Yeah but those people don’t think about device id or ip or any footprints…

Not true, because I considered all of those things haha

It might be a mix of both, flagged account and case by case on handles

@username means nothing. It make a poor unique identifier because it’s mutable, it’s mostly for display purpose, not identifying purpose. Every IG account has a unique ID, that’s what they use to identify the accounts, not by username. To see someone’s IG id, you can open developer tool of chrome, go to console and type window._sharedData.entry_data.ProfilePage and it will give you a bunch of the user information including their unique IG id. That id stays with the account even if you change username.

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Hi thank you for the information, that is very insightful.

I want to point out what the user above you said. He says that an @handle can carry over the low trust score, but it’s on a case by case basis for Instagram.

I do believe he is correct, because I had an account get flagged as spam with a low trust score, so I just made a new account, but I kept the @handle. It turns out on my new account, people cannot find it when they search for the @handle on Instagram. So, it appears that the handle itself has carried over with the low trust score.

You can read more about my unique problem here:

Thank you, I think you may be right, because I made a new account but switched the @handle over from an account with a low trust score. Now, no one can find that name when they search for it on Instagram.

Any idea how long it will take for the account to be unflagged? Will it ever be a normal account or should I start from scratch with a brand new @handle?

Your problem is not a low trust score issue. Your problem is a search engine optimization issue. You will probably always have that problem with that particular username because it’s too common, not because there is any score attached to it.

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I would also counter this statement because when i had the same @alexanderthegreat handle on the original account it would always show up first on the list when people would look it up. Now this is not the case

That’s a really interesting theory. But I think that the handle has his weight in the trust score.

Why?

Try to register usernames containing “sex” or spammy words and you will realize that it’s easier to get them banned. It makes sense, because jarvee and a great part of the accounts creators uses random usernames (ksdfaihsfaasujai), and it sounds really spammy.

probably because people who create names like ksdfaihsfaasujai are also very sloppy and do other things that cause easy ban.