Imgur stopping photos from displaying in the UK

[shadowfax]

Imgur are stopping their images from displaying in the United Kingdom.

Imgur.jpeg

Folks in the UK see the image above rather than a photo.

Here is why.
"Imgur blocks access to UK users after regulator warned of fine". The link on the left goes to an article on the BBC News website.

SkirtCafe members who use Imgur to host their photos in the USA say, will find that they can see their own photos in their own threads in, "Pics and Looks" say but folks in the UK will only see the purple image above with "Content not viewable in your region".

There is a workaround for UK users of SkirtCafe. As Imgur will not serve photos to UK IP address ranges, one should be able to use a VPN set to the USA say, to fool Imgur into serving the photos.

[crfriend]

There is a workaround for UK users of SkirtCafe. As Imgur will not serve photos to UK IP address ranges, one should be able to use a VPN set to the USA say, to fool Imgur into serving the photos.

Note: Imgur is a site that's entirely separate from SkirtCafe and we here have no control over it.

If Imgur wants to censor things for certain parts of the world there's a very simple workaround -- don't use Imgur and publicly speak out against the policy and advise others to stop using the platform.

I don't know why the policy exists as I thought the US and the UK were on good terms, but a tantrum in the Oval Office may have changed all that. (Doesn't the UK have a law in place forbidding convicted felons from visiting the country? Aren't they breaking their own laws with the apparent exemption?)

[shadowfax]

There is a workaround for UK users of SkirtCafe. As Imgur will not serve photos to UK IP address ranges, one should be able to use a VPN set to the USA say, to fool Imgur into serving the photos.

Note: Imgur is a site that's entirely separate from SkirtCafe and we here have no control over it.

My post was purely intended to assist UK users of SkirtCafe.

If Imgur wants to censor things for certain parts of the world there's a very simple workaround -- don't use Imgur and publicly speak out against the policy and advise others to stop using the platform.

I don't know why the policy exists as I thought the US and the UK were on good terms, but a tantrum in the Oval Office may have changed all that. (Doesn't the UK have a law in place forbidding convicted felons from visiting the country? Aren't they breaking their own laws with the apparent exemption?)

I feel that I had better refrain from commenting on US politics, Carl.

[shadowfax]

Here is what Imgur say about what they are doing.
https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/article ... ed-Kingdom

Here is the first paragraph:-
"From September 30, 2025, access to Imgur from the United Kingdom is no longer available. UK users will not be able to log in, view content, or upload images. Imgur content embedded on third-party sites will not display for UK users.".

The link was pulled out of the BBC News article which I linked in the first post in this thread.

[crfriend]

Here is the first paragraph:-
"From September 30, 2025, access to Imgur from the United Kingdom is no longer available. UK users will not be able to log in, view content, or upload images. Imgur content embedded on third-party sites will not display for UK users.".

The link was pulled out of the BBC News article which I linked in the first post in this thread.

Likely a tantrum in the Oval Office. But, the net result is the same -- Imgur has become useless if you have an international audience.

You're right, there's little point in commenting on the situation in the US. It'll have to correct itself, but I get the feeling I'll be long dead before it does.

[Mouse]

The actual reason is of the UK governments own making, with its online safety bill to protect children. part of this, is that systems have to have age verification as part of the sign on to use the systems which Imgur apparently doesn't have and so is being fined by the UK government. In response Imgur has blocked UK users of its services. So I do not think in this case, we can blame any part of the US government for this mess.

I then wondered if the service I use (Flickr) would be affected by a similar problem. But doing a search I found the following...

As of October 2025, there is no public information indicating that Flickr is under a formal investigation by the UK government or a regulatory body like Ofcom. Instead, Flickr proactively changed its policies in July 2025 to comply with the UK's new online safety regulations.
Key details on Flickr's compliance with UK law:
Age verification: In July 2025, Flickr updated its Terms of Service to require new users to be at least 18 years old.
Access to mature content: In the UK, accessing content with SafeSearch turned off now requires a Flickr Pro subscription, which is used for age verification through a credit card.
Temporary restrictions: Users traveling to the UK may have their accounts temporarily aligned with UK regulations, with their settings restored upon leaving the country.
Response to Online Safety Act: A blog post from March 2022 anticipated that changes at Flickr were necessary to comply with the upcoming UK Online Safety Bill. Flickr's recent changes are a direct result of these laws coming into effect.
While Flickr has adapted its service to meet new UK standards, this should not be mistaken for a formal investigation or regulatory action against the platform.

While I want to keep children safe, I apologise to the rest of the world for the hap handed way the UK government is breaking bits of the internet and degrading our security in their poorly thought out approaches to the issues. Listening to politicians explain technical aspects is extremely disappointing at their lack of knowledge.

VPNs are the only way forward.

[crfriend]

The actual reason is of the UK governments own making, with its online safety bill to protect children. part of this, is that systems have to have age verification as part of the sign on to use the systems which Imgur apparently doesn't have and so is being fined by the UK government. In response Imgur has blocked UK users of its services. So I do not think in this case, we can blame any part of the US government for this mess.

Well, that sorts this mess then. We gots to protect our chillun!

But at what cost?

VPNs. certainly are a workaround, but they only work for the technically savvy. The rest of the population is left out in the cold.

[SkirtsDad]

VPNs. certainly are a workaround, but they only work for the technically savvy. The rest of the population is left out in the cold.

If anyone is on Android they could try Opera-mini beta. Country codes seem to be a bit problematic on some Android browsers. I'm in the UK, but I get adverts in Dutch and can't watch the BBC on some browsers. Opera-mini beta happily shows Imgur pictures for me currently.

[andrewsh]

Speaking of which: I’m unable to upload a file not nearly as big as the limit: 345643 bytes is well under 768 KB. What’s wrong?

[Bill]

When one uses a "free" service on the Internet they often get what they pay for.