United Kingdom, Oct. 9 -- Ben Affleck has been banned from Instagram twice for "impersonating" himself.

The Hollywood actor has confessed he only set up an account on the platform to keep an eye on his kids - Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14 with ex-wife Jennifer Garner - and find out what they were up to online but he fell foul of the site's security measures and was kicked off.

In an interview with Variety, Ben explained: "I got banned from Instagram twice for impersonating myself. I had six followers.

"It was my kids and some of their friends. It was just an excuse for me to look at [my kids'] social media accounts."

He added of social media: "There used to be a time when everything you said or did wasn't on the permanent record...