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<\/p>\nImage hosting website goes dark after ICO notifies it of intention to levy fines over child data protection<\/p>\n
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Imgur has started blocking access to its site from UK users after the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) threatened to fine the company over its advertising and data collection policies.<\/p>\n
The image hosting social media website, founded in 2009 by Alan Schaaf when he was an undergraduate at Ohio University, has more than 150 million monthly active users worldwide.<\/p>\n
MediaLab AI, the company that operates the site, is one of three social media websites under investigation by the ICO over how the respective social media platforms use the information of children and their approach to validating users\u2019 age. Earlier this month, the ICO issued a \u201cnotice of intent\u201d to fine the company as a result of its investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur findings are provisional and the ICO will carefully consider any representations from MediaLab before taking a final decision whether to issue a monetary penalty,\u201d said ICO interim executive director of regulatory supervision Tim Capel, responding to the Imgur blackout<\/a>.<\/p>\n He added that shutting down the website to UK users would not enable the company to avoid the financial penalty, although it is unclear what measures the ICO could take to either force compliance or payment.<\/p>\n Capel continued: \u201cSafeguarding children\u2019s personal information is a key priority for the ICO and our Children\u2019s Code strategy outlines our key interventions in this area. Keeping children safe online is the responsibility of the companies offering online services to them and we will continue to hold them to account.\u201d<\/p>\n The other companies subject to this investigation by the ICO include TikTok, regarding how it makes recommendations to teenagers, as well as Reddit, for how it assesses the age of child users in the UK.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is in light of growing concerns about social media and video sharing platforms using data generated by children’s online activity in their recommender systems, which could lead to young people being served inappropriate or harmful content,\u201d the ICO explained in a statement back in March 2025<\/a>, when it opened the investigations.<\/p>\n As an indication of the level of fine that the ICO is empowered to dish out, it levied a \u00a32.31 million fine on genomics and biotech company 23AndMe back in June<\/a> \u2013 despite the company being in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings. That had related to a 2023 data breach. It also fined a NHS supplier \u00a33 million in March this year over a ransomware attack in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company has also been involved in a broader investigation of Facebook operator Meta about how it uses personal information for its advertising model. With a greater investment in the UK market, the company is less able to simply walk away from British users.<\/p>\n The ICO claims that Meta has shifted its approach to advertising accordingly, with a move from solely offering use of its website based on targetted advertising that, it says, is \u201cnot in line with UK law\u201d.<\/p>\n