Imgur Blocks UK Users Over Age Verification
Imgur TOS Update (2021, via Hacker News):
No nudity or sexually explicit content.
Provocative, inflammatory, unsettling, or suggestive content should be marked as Mature.
No hate speech, abuse or harassment.
No content that condones illegal or violent activity.
The UK’s data watchdog has described Imgur’s move to block UK users as “a commercial decision” after signaling plans to fine parent company MediaLab.
It opened an investigation into various companies, including TikTok and Reddit, in March, focused on how these major platforms handle children’s data and verify their ages, which led to issuing a notice of intent to fine MediaLab in September.
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Capel also hinted that even if Imgur continues to block UK users, the ICO may still seek to penalize its parent company.
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The ICO said the investigation was instead related to its Children's code strategy, which it first published in 2021 [rather than the Online Safety Act].
Previously:
- Complying With Texas Age Verification
- Updated Age Ratings in App Store Connect
- UK Online Safety Act
- Tumblr vs. the App Store
- Imgur Acquired
Update (2025-11-10): Preston Byrne (via Hacker News):
I am currently representing every single U.S. social-media enforcement target of the UK Online Safety Act, again pro bono,without exception. I will continue to do so until the Online Safety Act’s capacity to harm American citizens is destroyed, by America enacting a shield law.
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SaSu is a tiny forum which didn’t have much of an appetite for a fight. Accordingly, when Ofcom came calling at the end of February, SaSu more or less immediately IP blocked the entire UK in hopes of avoiding enforcement action. (Ofcom claims this occurred in July; it in fact occurred in May.)
And, for a time, this worked. Today, however, I can reveal that Ofcom has reversed its decision and is going after the site anyway.
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What might have happened is that a third party, understanding this, could have found SaSu’s mirror, hit SaSu’s mirror with one of these IPs, and then handed the file off to the regulator as some kind of “gotcha” demonstrating that the IP geoblock was ineffective, and using the fact of the access plus the fact that there was a mirror URL to claim that SaSu was somehow trying to dishonestly mislead the regulator about its compliance with the OSA through geoblocking.
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Ofcom is trying to set the precedent that no matter where you are in the world, and no matter how much you try to keep UK users off your site, Ofcom believes you have to follow its rules – even if you’re American and you’re engaged in constitutionally protected speech and conduct.
