What is "You Can’t Message This Account Unless They Follow You" on Instagram?
Key Takeaways
☑️ If you see the ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ on Instagram, it means that the person who should receive the message has set the option ‘Don’t receive requests’ from their profile settings.
☑️ Also, you cannot fix this as this is done on their behalf.
You are trying to send an important message to someone on Instagram, but from your side, it looks like there is an error because you see the message, ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you.’
When we see this message on Instagram, we are confused because, by default, anyone should be able to get message requests from anyone, right?!
That is unless the person trying to send the message has set the option preventing you and others from messaging them.
This article thoroughly explains everything you need to know about the ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ message and if you can fix this.
To learn more about this, scroll down to read the whole post.
What does ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ mean?
When people get the ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ message, it means that the person to whom they address the message has adjusted their privacy settings not to receive message requests unless they follow you back.
Overall, it is a security option given by Instagram to ensure the safety of its users. It resulted from many complaints from users harassed by strangers who sent them messages.
They wanted to feel protected, so they requested not to receive such messages unless you are friends with the person trying to message them.
Bonus read: Why Message Request on Instagram Disappeared?
Why can people not message others who don’t follow them?
People’s messages to others who don’t follow them are because they have set their message controls to the option ‘Don’t receive requests.’
It is an inbuilt feature of Instagram, allowing users to not receive messages from people they don’t follow or know.
Can I fix the ‘You can’t send this message unless they follow you’ on Instagram?
Unfortunately, you cannot fix this, as the person has set this option on their behalf from their profile.
Therefore, if you want to send a message to someone who doesn’t follow you and get the message, you can try to contact them through another social media they are using.
Can I turn off message requests from people I don’t know and follow?
Yes, you can do that! Here are the steps on how to turn off message requests from people you don’t know and follow;
- Open Instagram.
- Automatically, you’ll land on your home feed; tap on your profile icon (down right corner).
- From your profile, tap on the hamburger icon to access the menu(top right corner).
- From the menu, tap on ‘Settings.’
- Tap on ‘Privacy,’ scroll to the bottom and tap on ‘Messages.’
- Under ‘Message controls,’ you’ll see several options to choose from.
- Tap on ‘Your followers on Instagram’ and tap on ‘'Don’t receive requests.’
- Tap on ‘People on Facebook’ and then tap on ‘Don’t receive requests.’
- Tap on ‘Others on Instagram' and then tap on ‘Don’t receive requests.’
And that is all! You can always go back and undo this option whenever you want.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article taught you the meaning of the ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ message.
Also, now you know that you can set this option yourself for your profile if you don’t want to receive message requests from people who don’t follow you.
Besides this, you might also find it helpful to know how to send gift messages on Instagram, or know what to do when Instagram says that you have a message but you actually dont'.
FAQs
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Is the ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ on Instagram an error?
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The ‘You can’t message this account unless they follow you’ message on Instagram is not an error.
It is just a message you will automatically receive if the person trying to send the message has set the ‘Don’t receive requests’ option on their profile.
