Is scraping Instagram illegal and can you get in trouble for it?
I'm not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice, but the legality of scraping is a gray area—hard to say definitively. However, scraping definitely violates the terms of service of platforms like Instagram, and automating a platform in a way that's prohibited carries risk. If you use your personal Instagram cookie with a scraper, you're associating your account with that activity, which could lead to a shadowban, block, or enforcement of their rules. There's no free lunch; automation always involves some risk when you tie your account to a scraper. My recommendation is to look for scrapers that don't require your cookie or account activity, use a semi‑manual method, or accept the risk if you choose to proceed.
Yes, I’ve released it. You can find the Instagram automation on leftclicker.gumroad.com (it might also be in Maker School). It has 12 reviews—feel free to leave a five‑star rating if you like it.
Sure, let's try that. I opened a tool and started looking for an Instagram follower scraper. I pulled up my Instagram channel, which is at about 178,107,853 followers, and navigated to the brand stats page. I ran into a few hiccups—copied the wrong text, opened too many tabs, and realized my earlier follower count was off. The actual number is closer to 106,000, not the 107,000 I mentioned yesterday, because I hadn't had access to a proper scraping tool before. I then checked my main channel growth, which is at 77,708, and noted a recent video that is performing well, boosting my daily updates to around 3,924. I also mentioned that we're approaching 4,000 subscribers overall, all from providing immediate value and brainstorming live. The rest of the walkthrough was just me showing the stats and acknowledging the inaccuracies while I look for a reliable Instagram follower scraper.
My go‑to tool is Apify. You can use a hashtag scraper or a follower scraper. First, choose what you want to scrape: either posts for a specific hashtag or the followers of a particular profile. Provide the hashtag (e.g., "automation") and the scraper returns a list of posts and the users who engaged with them. You can then pull those users' profiles and gather details, personalize messages with AI‑generated DMs, and send outreach. Alternatively, you can scrape the followers of a large, relevant Instagram account by supplying its URL, then extract their data and DM them. A third option is to scrape comments on high‑engagement posts (like giveaway posts); commenters show strong intent, so you can collect their info and reach out. In short, start with a hashtag scraper for the easiest results, use follower scrapers for niche audiences, and consider comment scrapers for high‑intent leads.
No, using your own cookies is optional. You can export your browser cookies as a JSON file, paste them into the cookie editor, and the scraper will use them. If you don’t have cookies, you can still run the scraper without them.