Anything outside normal behavior can trigger these automated systems. Trying to withhold important personal data will make you an unimportant user in the eyes of these hungry giants and it will trigger the lock out hell spirals sooner than later.

I use Instagram only in a separate container in Firefox. I have no phone number connected to it. I tried to manually delete my pictures the other week. Got half way through before being locked out for suspicious activity. Message said account would be deleted if I didn't give them my phone number.

So, I bought a prepaid SIM card and proceeded with SMS verification. They told me I had to wait 24 hours. After 24 hours I got a message saying I was still suspicious and had to send a picture of myself holding a sign with my username. You could mistake this process for a reddit gone wild submission.

I'm done with Insta. Went ahead and deleted my FB account too, while I could still get in.