Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

Which law is actually involved?

• Several commenters initially blamed the UK Online Safety Act and “chat control”, but others pointed out this case is about data protection: the ICO enforcing UK GDPR and the Children’s Code around handling minors’ data (e.g., ad tracking), not content moderation.
• Confusion stems from overlapping UK internet laws and media framing that collapses them into one “online safety” narrative.

Company responses and geo‑blocking the UK

• Many see Imgur’s UK block as rational “risk management” for a relatively small revenue market; compliance and enforcement uncertainty are seen as too costly.
• Some advocate broader “HTTP 451” style blocking of the UK (and even EU) as protest, predicting public backlash if enough major services disappear.
• Others worry this accelerates internet fragmentation and normalizes geo‑blocking as the default for avoiding legal risk.

Jurisdiction and extraterritorial reach

• There is a long subthread on whether the UK can fine a US‑based company with no remaining UK presence.
• One side argues: if you serve UK users, take their ad money and collect their data, you are “doing business” and must obey local law, with potential enforcement via past assets, future operations, or extradition cooperation.
• The other side calls this “legal imperialism”: if mere accessibility creates liability, every small site must comply with hundreds of jurisdictions; they argue blocking should be done by UK ISPs, not foreign sites.

GDPR, children’s data, and privacy

• Some defend GDPR/Children’s Code as relatively clear and necessary against pervasive tracking of minors; they distinguish this from the much broader Online Safety Act.
• Others see all such regimes as overcomplicated, lawyer‑driven burdens that only big platforms can navigate, reinforcing regulatory capture.
• Debate continues over what counts as personal data (public comments, logs, usernames) and whether minors can meaningfully consent to tracking.

Impact on small sites and the global internet

• Commenters fear that cumulative regulation (UK, EU, US, etc.) will make it infeasible for small forums and hobby projects to serve global audiences, pushing more activity onto large, well‑lawyered platforms.
• Many view this as another step toward a balkanized internet, with region‑specific walled gardens and heavy dependence on VPNs—possibly themselves targeted in future laws.

Role and value of Imgur

• Some dismiss Imgur as a marginal ad‑tech business; others note it underpins decades of image links across the web, and its decline or disappearance would cause large‑scale link rot, only partially mitigated by archives like the Internet Archive.