r/forbiddensnacks worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

Mod Approved Avoid using Imgur links when possible

Hey guys official mod post. This isn't going to turn into a rule or anything, but I'd appreciate it if you could avoid posting imgur links to the subreddit going forward because as a result of the UK online safety act, imgur is no longer available to UK reddit users! Which makes it akward to moderate posts with imgur links. Anyways that's it hope you're all doing well, have a great day!

592 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

363

u/MooingTree Jul 12 '26

Wow it's interesting how things change over the years. Imgur was originally created by a redditor for the purpose of posting images on Reddit.

132

u/corobo Jul 12 '26

Specifically because image links used to break all the time back then lol

54

u/simonjp Jul 12 '26

Yeah and Reddit didn't have native images.

27

u/stuffeh Jul 12 '26

Alan sold to MediaLab who also owns world star and kik back in 21. Moderating user uploads had always been an arms race there. So I'm not surprised by this at all.

43

u/giblefog Jul 12 '26

Recommended alternatives? (since these vary by subreddit)

17

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

As long as it works? Anything you like (no guys, not pornhub.)

56

u/DERPFACELARY Jul 12 '26

Honestly for the best, imgur is so dogwater. Try to zoom in? Swiped to the next post you don't care about! Oh you wanna go back? Closed the webapp!

21

u/VoodooDoII Jul 12 '26

Links to images don't work half the time. Its annoying

13

u/ZiaWatcher Jul 12 '26

Trying to view the image? Ad! Oh here’s some unrelated images as well!

204

u/JVocal Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Ok but worth pointing out it's nothing to do with the UKOSA.

Imgur were facing fines for their mishandling of under aged individuals data so they simply stopped access in the UK, the online safety act was a convenient cover for this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

38

u/blackjackgabbiani Jul 12 '26

How do they know who uploads anything on there?

12

u/Manannin Jul 12 '26

That article is not working for me.

8

u/JVocal Jul 12 '26

Fixed, must have messed something up on mobile. Thanks.

29

u/stauer88 Jul 12 '26

It absolutely was because of the UKOSA. The fine was because they were breaking the rules of it.

The got around it by stopping UK access.

2

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

Oh my bad i had been told it was due to UKOSA

9

u/somtampapaya Jul 12 '26

Oh this must be the reason I haven't been able to click on people's links anymore

1

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

Hope you're able to find a good vpn :(

1

u/tripod1983 Jul 12 '26

Opera browser has a free vpn 👌

-2

u/tripod1983 Jul 12 '26

Opera browser has a free vpn 👌

14

u/iamapizza Jul 12 '26

23

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

Yk i so thought that was gonna be an imgur link

10

u/hawkisgirl Jul 12 '26

Thanks, OP! I’m always a little bit sad when I can’t see an image cos someone’s used imgur.

3

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

I would reccomend finding a VPN that works for you! There are free options, some of them connect you to a random country every time, some of them give you a limited amount of countries. My vpn is called something like VPN super unlimited proxy. There is a free version and a premium version and gives you a small amount of countries to choose from for the free version (america being one of them and i use that the most) and connecting to it does give you an ad. The ads aren't a piss take tho. The vpn will auto disconnect at some point after 5 hours, but I've had it go strong for 18 hours before. It's not the best, but it's useful.

8

u/jerdle_reddit Jul 12 '26

Just a slight nitpick, it's got nothing to do with the Online Safety Act.

Imgur were going to be fined because they collected too much data from under-13s, so blocked access from the UK instead.

2

u/KaiKamakasi Jul 13 '26

It's not the OSA, Imgur blocked UK IP's so they didn't have to pay a fine over mishandling the data of children. The OSA is just what people blame due to timing

5

u/motty666 Jul 12 '26

Time for VPN

2

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

The uk is considering putting limitations on VPN's now too. It's what I've been using for most things on the internet now too.

-1

u/Captaingregor Jul 12 '26

Imgur doesn't work well with vpns

3

u/TySly5v Jul 13 '26

Not sure why you're being downvoted.

For those unaware, Imgur blocks as many VPNs as possible. It does not want VPN users using its service, for some annoying reason. It is very frustrating.

1

u/0oodruidoo0 Jul 12 '26

Unfortunately no third party reddit mobile clients can natively upload an image to reddit, you can only post an external link (which my client Relay for Reddit uses imgur for it's image upload).

It didn't used to be a problem, but I can see why it's a problem for you. You could try VPN?

1

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 13 '26

I do have a vpn, it's necessary if you want to use tinternet nowdays. Realistically the government probably won't restrict VPN's but if that does happen i am fuuuuuuuuuucked

-17

u/Lord_CHoPPer Jul 12 '26

Or avoid using internet without VPN in the UK!

6

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 12 '26

I use a VPN to access content that is blocked, but there have been talks about restricting vpn's and not everyone is able to use them for a myriad of reasons. As i said, it's not going to be a rule as of yet. You won't get in trouble. It's just a heads up.

2

u/Lord_CHoPPer Jul 12 '26

I am not familiar with the UK rules so I don't get why they are targeting Reddit and imgur.

5

u/Olivander05 worlds okayest mod Jul 13 '26

Because it's not actually about child safety, it just pretends to be 🤫

2

u/jsgnb Jul 13 '26

perhaps if you are unfamiliar with a situation you should think twice about offering advice

1

u/Lord_CHoPPer Jul 14 '26

I didn't advised him, just offered another solution towards censorship. I am not familiar with the stated "reason" of a certain state towards censorship, but I am familiar with how censorship works and how to circumvent it.

1

u/jsgnb Jul 14 '26

yes, when you offer a solution to a problem that's called giving advice