The popular image hosting platform Imgur is set to update its Terms of Service on May 15, 2023, with a significant overhaul of its content guidelines. The cleanup effort aims to eliminate nudity, pornography, sexually explicit material, as well as outdated, unused, and inactive content not linked to a user account.
Users are encouraged to save any images that do not comply with the new terms before the enforcement date.
Until now, Imgur users could share explicit images and videos on the platform, albeit indirectly. Explicit content could be posted as a comment or kept private, as public uploads of such content were restricted following the platform’s decision in October 2019 to stop supporting Not Safe For Work (NSFW) tags originating from Reddit.
Prior to this change, Imgur allowed the upload of explicit content with hidden status settings, but any such content uploaded before the 2019 alteration would undergo an adult content verification process.
In a recent modification of its policy, Imgur now prohibits the uploading of explicit content, impacting third-party sites embedding Imgur content that could result in “not found” errors.
Under the revised Community Rules aligning with the company’s stance, the upload of “nudity or sexually explicit content” is forbidden, except for artistic nudity. Imgur’s support page mentions that artistic, scientific, or educational nude images shared with relevant context remain permissible.
Implemented automated systems will assist in identifying explicit content, aiming to balance automated detection and human review to minimize adverse effects on the community due to these alterations.
Imgur justifies these changes as efforts to clarify and standardize policies across the platform. Users have previously faced content violations for content seen elsewhere off-site, while the risk of explicit and illegal content has posed challenges for Imgur’s operations.
Flagged content will be promptly removed, leading to disabled direct links and content visibility in posts. If flagged content is part of a larger post containing non-flagged content, only the flagged portion will be removed.
Closing Thoughts
Veteran Internet users may draw parallels to Tumblr, which banned explicit content in 2018 and experienced a decline in traffic. Imgur’s shift seems primarily driven by business motives, as platforms hosting explicit content often struggle to attract advertisers.
Image Source: M-Production / Shutterstock
