Virat Kohli’s Instagram "Disappearance" : Fans in rampage

With more than 274 million followers among the largest followings for any athlete worldwide the brief disappearance set off instant alarm, speculation, and a wave of fan reactions. By the morning of January 30, the account had been completely restored and was live again, but the puzzling overnight glitch had already ignited a viral storm.

The trouble first appeared late on January 29, when people trying to access Kohli's profile were met with typical Instagram error prompts like “User not found” or “This page isn’t available.” His feed, stories, and posts were entirely unreachable, prompting many to believe the account had been deactivated, hacked, or possibly even deleted for good.

The temporary vanishing also happened at a time when several public figures have been stepping away from social media for digital detoxes, which led many fans to wonder if this was a similar case.

Fans quickly took to social platforms, with many flooding the comment sections of Kohli’s wife, Anushka Sharma, asking for updates or reassurance. The reactions ranged from worry to playful concern, with messages such as “Bhabhi, bhaiya ka account kahan gaya? Hope everything is okay with Virat bhai,” “Ese daraya mat kro Kohli bhai” (Don’t scare us like this, Kohli bhai), “Instagram se bhi retirement le liya kya?,” and “Bhaiya where are you? Account deactivated? Everything fine?” These responses highlighted just how closely followers track Kohli’s digital presence.

https://x.com/bholination/status/2016976771221246373?s=20

By around 8:30 am on Friday, the Instagram profile was accessible again, with all posts and followers intact, bringing swift relief to fans.Once the account the next morning, many fans openly celebrated, sharing screenshots and cheerful messages about the restored profile:

“All good now — Kohli’s back online #WelcomeBack” – Instagram user post
“Phew! Thought Instagram had lost the GOAT”
“Instagram blackout solved. Also solved my anxiety”

Even with the relief, some followers continued questioning why the profile had vanished in the first place, pointing out that neither Kohli nor his team had yet explained the cause of the temporary outage.