401 unauthorized when target is another account - followers command

[TastingSunsets]

Hi

I log in with a "secondary" instagram account to gather data about my main account, @tastingsunsets. When performing the followers command, I get a 401 unauthorized error, followed by instagrapi.exceptions.PleaseWaitFewMinutes. The target account has 3k+ followers. When I perform the same command on the account that I log in with, the command works. This secondary account has 800 followers. The secondary account follows @tastinsunsets (which is a public account anyways).

Here's the complete traceback for when the command fails:

Run a command: followers Searching for target followers (this may take a while) ... Traceback (most recent call last): File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/public.py", line 168, in _send_public_request response.raise_for_status() File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/models.py", line 1021, in raise_for_status raise HTTPError(http_error_msg, response=self) requests.exceptions.HTTPError: 401 Client Error: Unauthorized for url: https://www.instagram.com/graphql/query/?variables=%7B%22id%22%3A%2251675445256%22%2C%22include_reel%22%3Atrue%2C%22fetch_mutual%22%3Afalse%2C%22first%22%3A12%7D&query_hash=5aefa9893005572d237da5068082d8d5

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/user.py", line 784, in user_followers users = self.user_followers_gql(user_id, amount) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/user.py", line 689, in user_followersgql users, = self.user_followers_gql_chunk(str(user_id), amount) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/user.py", line 655, in user_followers_gql_chunk data = self.public_graphql_request( ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/public.py", line 240, in public_graphql_request body_json = self.public_request( ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/public.py", line 123, in public_request raise e File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/public.py", line 100, in public_request return self._send_public_request(url, **kwargs) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/public.py", line 191, in _send_public_request raise ClientUnauthorizedError(e, response=e.response) instagrapi.exceptions.ClientUnauthorizedError: 401 Client Error: Unauthorized for url: https://www.instagram.com/graphql/query/?variables=%7B%22id%22%3A%2251675445256%22%2C%22include_reel%22%3Atrue%2C%22fetch_mutual%22%3Afalse%2C%22first%22%3A12%7D&query_hash=5aefa9893005572d237da5068082d8d5

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/private.py", line 360, in _send_private_request response.raise_for_status() File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/models.py", line 1021, in raise_for_status raise HTTPError(http_error_msg, response=self) requests.exceptions.HTTPError: 401 Client Error: Unauthorized for url: https://i.instagram.com/api/v1/friendships/51675445256/followers/?max_id=&count=200&rank_token=8021155557_3df401ed-a28c-4a57-8e6a-1ffd4920f1c5&search_surface=follow_list_page&query=&enable_groups=true

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Users/tasting.sunsets/sandbox/osint/Osintgram/main.py", line 173, in _cmd() File "/Users/tasting.sunsets/sandbox/osint/Osintgram/src/Osintgram.py", line 306, in get_followers data = client.user_followers(str(self.target_id)) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/user.py", line 788, in user_followers users = self.user_followers_v1(user_id, amount) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/user.py", line 755, in user_followersv1 users, = self.user_followers_v1_chunk(str(user_id), amount) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/user.py", line 717, in user_followers_v1_chunk result = self.private_request( ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/private.py", line 542, in private_request raise e File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/private.py", line 527, in private_request self._send_private_request(endpoint, kwargs) File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/instagrapi/mixins/private.py", line 383, in _send_private_request raise PleaseWaitFewMinutes(e, response=e.response, last_json) instagrapi.exceptions.PleaseWaitFewMinutes: Please wait a few minutes before you try again.

Any insights in how to fix this? Great tool by the way!

[thedev132]

That error only appears when Instagram has forced the user account to wait before sending more requests. I encounter that error sometimes too when I'm logging in a lot of times (mostly cuz I'm testing if the code will break or not) Also, it's logging in twice with 2 different libraries. I'm working on using only one in the future and using sessions to further allow you to not have to relogin everytime.

[thedev132]

The newest push has a sessions feature which will allow you to login in to the same session multiple times