How to Scrape TikTok, Instagram & LinkedIn in 2026 (Without Getting Banned)
The complete guide to extracting data from TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn safely and at scale. Profiles, posts, comments, hashtags, and engagement metrics — all automated with Apify.
Why Social Media Scraping is a $2B Industry in 2026
Social media data is the most valuable data on the internet. Brands spend billions on social listening tools, influencer marketing platforms, and competitive intelligence. But most of these tools charge $200-2,000/month for data you could collect yourself with the right scraping setup.
The challenge? Social platforms actively fight scrapers with rate limits, CAPTCHAs, IP bans, and login walls. That's why you need a platform built specifically for this: Apify has dedicated scrapers for every major social platform, maintained by specialists who update them whenever platforms change their anti-bot measures.
Social Media Data Value
Social listening market size 2026
Of marketers use social data for decisions
Average monthly cost of social tools (replaceable)
Scraping TikTok: Videos, Profiles, Hashtags & Trends
TikTok is the hardest platform to scrape in 2026. Their anti-bot detection is aggressive, and their API is extremely limited. But Apify's TikTok scrapers handle all of this automatically — no login required, no API keys needed.
What You Can Extract from TikTok
Example: Scrape trending TikTok videos for a hashtag
// Using Apify's TikTok Scraper Actor
const run = await client.actor("clockworks/tiktok-scraper").call({
hashtags: ["aitools", "webdev", "sidehustle"],
resultsPerPage: 100,
shouldDownloadVideos: false,
});
// Get results
const dataset = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId);
const items = await dataset.listItems();
console.log(`Found ${items.count} trending videos!`);💡 Pro Tip
Use Apify's scheduling feature to automatically scrape trending TikTok content daily. Set up a webhook to push data to your Google Sheet or Airtable. Total cost: ~$5-15/month.
Scraping Instagram: Posts, Reels, Stories & Influencers
Instagram scraping is essential for influencer marketing, brand monitoring, and competitive analysis. Apify's Instagram scrapers can extract public profile data, posts, reels, comments, and hashtag performance without needing any Instagram credentials.
Instagram Scraping Use Cases
Influencer Discovery & Vetting
Scrape follower counts, engagement rates, posting frequency, and audience demographics for thousands of influencers. Find micro-influencers with high engagement before your competitors.
Competitor Content Analysis
Track what content performs best for your competitors. Analyze posting times, hashtag strategies, and engagement patterns to optimize your own content.
Brand Mention Monitoring
Track every mention of your brand, products, or keywords across Instagram. Get real-time alerts for negative sentiment or viral content.
Scraping LinkedIn: Profiles, Companies & Job Listings
LinkedIn data is gold for B2B sales, recruiting, and market research. But LinkedIn is notoriously aggressive about blocking scrapers. Apify's LinkedIn Actors use advanced techniques to extract public data safely: profile information, company details, job listings, and post engagement.
LinkedIn Data You Can Extract
Profiles
- • Name, headline, location
- • Current & past companies
- • Skills & endorsements
- • Connection count
Companies
- • Employee count & growth
- • Industry & specialties
- • Recent posts & engagement
- • Job openings
Jobs
- • Title, description, salary
- • Required skills
- • Application count
- • Company details
B2B Lead Generation Example
A SaaS startup used Apify's LinkedIn scraper to find 2,000 CTOs at companies with 50-200 employees in the fintech space. Combined with an email finder Actor, they built a targeted outreach list in 2 hours that would have taken 2 weeks manually. Result: 12 demos booked in the first week.
How to Scrape Safely (Without Getting Banned)
The 5 Rules of Safe Social Scraping
Always use rotating proxies
Apify includes proxy rotation in all plans. Residential proxies for social platforms, datacenter for less protected sites.
Respect rate limits
Apify Actors are pre-configured with safe request rates. Don't override the defaults unless you know what you're doing.
Only scrape public data
Never scrape private profiles or data behind login walls. Stick to publicly available information.
Use headless browsers for JS-heavy sites
Apify's browser-based Actors render JavaScript properly, making requests look like real users.
Schedule scraping during off-peak hours
Use Apify's scheduler to run scraping jobs at night when platforms are less vigilant.
Start Scraping Social Media Today
Join 50,000+ marketers using Apify to collect social media data. Free tier available with $5/month credits.
Try Apify Social Scrapers Free →