Imgur, the popular photo and GIF sharing platform, has announced a significant change to its Terms of Service that could result in the deletion of years of internet history. Effective May 15th, the website will be removing “old, unused, and inactive content” that’s not tied to a user account. This means that countless images posted on various websites across the internet could disappear overnight. Additionally, Imgur will be banning “nudity, pornography and sexually explicit content” even if they were uploaded by someone with an account.
Imgur has long been a favored platform for people uploading explicit content intended for sharing on NSFW subreddits, given that Reddit itself prohibits direct uploads of explicit images. In 2019, the photo-sharing website stopped displaying NSFW Imgur subsections associated with subreddits. However, it did not delete any images and continued to allow users to upload pornographic content, provided they chose the “hidden” privacy status. Apparently, this has led to confusion and frustration regarding what is and isn’t permissible on the hosting service.
By banning explicit images completely, Imgur hopes to address the risks they pose to its business and safeguard the company’s future. The website will use a combination of automated detection and human moderators to identify and remove content that violates its updated Terms of Service. While it will not be issuing warnings or suspensions for automated flags, it will warn users if they attempt to upload anything that violates the new rules.
The company will still permit “artistic nudity” under the new rules, but such images may be flagged by the automated detection tool, which is still being calibrated. Those who wish to save viral images and other pieces of internet history may want to download them before they disappear. Users relying on Imgur to post photos on /r/gonewild or similar subreddits may wish to seek out alternative services in light of these changes.
