Menlo Park, California - Numerous Instagram users were locked out of their accounts on Monday as a technical error stormed the social media network.

Was it a Halloween trick?

As millions around the world prepared to take to IG to share photos of their Halloween costumes, many were simply unable to log in on Monday morning and were confronted with a confusing message.

"We suspended your account on October 31, 2022," read the error message.

The reason given? The account didn't "follow our Community Guidelines." It also warned the user had 30 days "to dispute" the decision, adding, "If we can't confirm your account, it will be permanently disabled."

"How will I post a picture of my dog in her Halloween costume if Instagram is down," one person on Twitter asked, as many complained of a bad prank on one of the busiest days of the year for selfies.

The platform, which is part of Facebook's Meta group, confirmed the issue on Twitter just after 10 AM, saying, "We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience."

Notifications that they were suspended from the platform caused confusion among the affected users, as most reported they had done nothing to warrant being locked out.

Those affected were also concerned whether the erroneous suspensions would also cause numbers of followers to drop drastically, as others reported "big drops" had already happened regardless. As account access began to be restored on Monday afternoon, it seems follower counts began to go back up again.

The Verge reported that the Instagram account of Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the most-followed accounts on the platform, apparently lost 3 million followers on Monday. Instagram’s own account had plunged by over a million.

The bug was remniscent of similar glitches on the platform in March and October of last year.