Imgur blocked in the UK

[jarlrmai]

I use the imgur image sharing site often when I want share images for debunking on places like Reddit.

However Imgur is now blocked from the UK as per 30/09/2025

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

This means I can no longer post or access image on there and any UK person you were intending on sharing images to via it will no longer be able to also.

The block is able to be bypassed by using a VPN than gives you a non UK IP.

 

[gargamel]

But why, exactly?

 

[jarlrmai]

But why, exactly?

The linked news article explains

 

[Mendel]

The linked news article explains

which is why you should have quoted it

The UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), said it recently notified the platform's parent company, MediaLab AI, of plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data.

The ICO launched its investigation into Imgur in March - saying it would probe whether the companies were complying with both the UK's data protection laws, and the children's code.

A document published by the ICO alongside the launch of its investigation stated that Imgur did not ask visitors to declare their age when setting up an account.

It said on Tuesday it had reached initial findings in its investigation and, on 10 September, issued MediaLab with a notice of intent to impose a fine.

But both the ICO and Ofcom - the media regulator enforcing the Online Safety Act - said Imgur suspending access for UK users had been its own "commercial decision".

 

[jarlrmai]

which is why you should have quoted it

The UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), said it recently notified the platform's parent company, MediaLab AI, of plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data.

The ICO launched its investigation into Imgur in March - saying it would probe whether the companies were complying with both the UK's data protection laws, and the children's code.

A document published by the ICO alongside the launch of its investigation stated that Imgur did not ask visitors to declare their age when setting up an account.

It said on Tuesday it had reached initial findings in its investigation and, on 10 September, issued MediaLab with a notice of intent to impose a fine.

But both the ICO and Ofcom - the media regulator enforcing the Online Safety Act - said Imgur suspending access for UK users had been its own "commercial decision".

This is not a debunking tread, just a heads up about a tool we use.

 

[deirdre]

so now all the reddit threads shared here in OPs will have to start embedding the photos vs making us view on reddit? bummer.

 

[MonkeeSage]

This means I can no longer post or access image on there and any UK person you were intending on sharing images to via it will no longer be able to also.

Thanks for the heads up. I recently discovered that if you use new reddit (instead of old.reddit.com) when making a post, and use their fancy-pants "Rich Text Editor" instead of markdown, you can add a single image to a post (there's a button in bottom left of editor) and it will upload it to reddit and embed it in the post. The image will be an embedded "<image>" link when viewed in old reddit and as an inline image in new reddit. Maybe this can be a work around for posts that only require a single image.

 

[jarlrmai]

The VPN method is unreliable, I use the free Proton VPN and sometimes it allows Imgur access and sometimes it seems that Imgur is pseudo blocking the VPN IP range using an out of capacity message.

Sometimes if I get a random VPN server in the Netherlands things work, but even this is not a guarantee that access will be granted.

 

[jarlrmai]

Okay I found a work around, you paste the imgur link into Discord, the Discord servers are not hosted in the UK and they go off and get an image preview that they then embed in the channel you pasted it in and you can use that, it's probably lower quality than the original imgur link but it's mostly good enough.

I did start a Discord (not Metabunk labelled in case some people ever wanted to collaborate and speak to each other and share things in a less formal way than the MB forums.

But I am sure most people have access to a discord of some description.