Instagram – Does Instagram Delete Old Accounts?

instagram

It looks like my old Instagram account has been deleted, whereas I still have a confirmation of my account creation (in 2012) in my e-mail inbox.

Best Answer

Yes, Instagram tends to delete accounts that have been inactive for a prolonged period of time.

I found this on their website:

"We encourage people to actively log in and use Instagram once they create an account. To keep your account active, be sure to log in and share photos, as well as like and comment on photos. Accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity, so please use your account once you sign up!"

You can check out the page here

Related Solutions

Facebook – Prevent Instagram from suggesting me to the Facebook friends (accounts not linked)

Below is an excerpt from Instagram's privacy policy as it stood at the time this question was posted. The full policy can be found at https://www.instagram.com/legal/privacy/

Beginning of Instagram Privacy Policy excerpt

In September 2012, we announced that Instagram had been acquired by Facebook. We knew that by teaming up with Facebook, we could build a better Instagram for you. Since then, we've been collaborating with Facebook's team on ways to do just that. As part of our new collaboration, we've learned that by being able to share insights and information with each other, we can build better experiences for our users. [...]

[...]When you use our Service, our servers automatically record certain log file information, including your web request, Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, referring / exit pages and URLs, number of clicks and how you interact with links on the Service, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed, and other such information. [...]

Log file information is automatically reported by your browser each time you make a request to access (i.e., visit) a web page or app. It can also be provided when the content of the webpage or app is downloaded to your browser or device.

When you use a mobile device like a tablet or phone to access our Service, we may access, collect, monitor, store on your device, and/or remotely store one or more "device identifiers." Device identifiers are small data files or similar data structures stored on or associated with your mobile device, which uniquely identify your mobile device. A device identifier may be data stored in connection with the device hardware, data stored in connection with the device's operating system or other software, or data sent to the device by Instagram.

A device identifier may deliver information to us or to a third party partner about how you browse and use the Service and may help us or others provide reports or personalized content and ads. [...]

[..] We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data) with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of, or that become part of that group ("Affiliates"). Affiliates may use this information to help provide, understand, and improve the Service (including by providing analytics) and Affiliates' own services (including by providing you with better and more relevant experiences). But these Affiliates will honor the choices you make about who can see your photos.

End of Instagram Privacy Policy excerpt

Essentially this means that Facebook and Instagram have ways of determining that you are the owner of both your Instagram account and your Facebook account and they don't need to rely on your email address being the same for both accounts.

By signing up for Instagram you gave consent for them to collect your IP address and any device identifiers and to share this information with Facebook because they are the same group of companies. Facebook and Instagram may have more ways to establish a link between your accounts but this explains why they have linked your accounts without using your email. You could attempt to only access a new Instagram account with a different device and from a different Internet connection but without knowing exactly how the accounts have been linked there is no way to know if that will work.

Gmail Security – Handling Unauthorized Instagram Registration Attempts

Hard to say what the intention is. As mentioned in a comment, it could be someone mistyping your email address accidentally. It could be a bot, but it seems strange to try to intentionally register an account using an email address that one doesn't have control over if verification is required.
If you're sure you'd never want to use an Instagram account under that email address and you want to avoid getting these notifications, you could register an Instagram account yourself using that email address, confirm your email, and then delete your account. That support article mentions:

After you delete your account, you can't sign up again with the same username or add that username to another account, and we can't reactivate deleted accounts

If by same username, they mean same username or email address (Not 100% sure if that's the case - perhaps you could contact Instagram support to verify), that should prevent these emails from recurring.