2023 Imgur NSFW Ban / Old Content Purge

Overview

The 2023 Imgur NSFW Ban or Imgur Old Content Purge refers to a controversial update to Imgur's terms of service, which the image-hosting platform announced on April 19th, 2023. Under the new policy and guidelines, Imgur stated that it would be deleting all pornographic content on the site along with all content from old, unused and inactive accounts. These changes are set to go into effect on May 15th, 2023. On Reddit and other social media platforms shortly after the announcement, users expressed concern and outrage about the decision as it garnered widespread discussion and media coverage, as well as being mocked in memes. The ban was also commonly compared to similar actions by other platforms in the past, particularly Tumblr and its adult content ban in 2018.

Background

Imgur first announced the changes on April 19th, 2023, in a post to its community. Arguing that explicit content could pose risks for the site's business model (advertising), the new policy was justified by the company as a way to make Imgur more fun and safe. The barring of pornographic content, the site clarified, would not include "artistic nudity," which (while vaguely defined) would still be allowed. The banning would also extend to private galleries and links. The site also announced that it would delete content from old, inactive and anonymous accounts, similarly leaving this designation loosely defined.

To do this, Imgur said it would use a combination of "automated detection" to find and flag explicit images or old, inactive content and human moderation to double-check the work done by the artificial intelligence or computers.^[1] For many online, these changes quickly became a controversial topic.^[2]

Online Reactions

As word of the announcement spread on social media throughout the following hours on April 19th, 2023, Imgur's decision began garnering significant backlash.

For example, many online argued that the purging of old content from Imgur was a major blow to web history — with some making comparisons to burning the Library of Alexandria. On April 20th, Twitter user @atomicthumbs (seen below) made this comparison in a tweet that included the announcement post, earning over 13,600 likes in less than a day.^[3]

Much old internet content (including memes) is notably hosted on Imgur, particularly from Reddit before it introduced its own image hosting in 2016,^[7] and will likely be deleted in the course of the terms of service update. This sentiment additionally generated outrage online. For example, on April 20th, 2023, Twitter user @cryptid_on_film pointed out the problems for internet history and cultural heritage which the mass deletion of old Imgur posts could cause, earning over 1,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).^[4]

Many compared the move by Imgur to delete explicit content to Tumblr's 2018 adult content ban, which is often blamed for the platform's fall in popularity around that same time. Twitter user @TieflingMelissa made this point on April 20th, earning almost 2,000 likes in less than a day (seen below).^[5]

On Reddit, multiple subreddits saw posts sharing news of the change in policy as it spread online, linking to the Imgur post describing the new policy and generally receiving thousands of upvotes alongside criticism in comments.^[6]

External References