When someone blocks you on Instagram, several things change from your perspective. You won’t be able to find their profile in search, see their posts, Stories, highlights, or interact with any of their content. Any direct message conversation you previously had with them will remain in your inbox, but you’ll no longer see their username or new messages—they’ll just appear as “Instagram User.” Old tags of their username in your photos will not be clickable.
To tell the difference between being blocked and someone deactivating their account, try searching for their profile from another Instagram account (or incognito). If it appears for others but not for you, you’ve likely been blocked. If you’re curious about viewing content or Stories from accounts you think may have blocked you, you can use Limeviewer to check anonymously without logging in.