4 ms·

So you are just a simple GB citizen and some external site blocked access by country affiliation?! Is there any practical reason for blocking access to that sit

by netXten 11mo ago

So you are just a simple GB citizen and some external site blocked access by country affiliation?! Is there any practical reason for blocking access to that site by geotargeting?

michaelt 11mo ago
The UK’s “online safety act” means a number of medium sized sites have decided it’s not worth doing business in the UK.
- juntoalaluna 11mo ago
  This is not why imgur have left though, they didn't want to comply with Data Protection laws.
  - michaelt 11mo ago
    The "online safety act" introduced mandatory age verification starting in July 2025. The government announced "plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data" in September 2025 [1] Are you telling me those were unrelated? How are you going to fine a website over age checks without the law that requires age checks? [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo
    - ww520 11mo ago
      The governments of the countries that dabbling into the "think of the children" laws should build their own "safe" internets for their citizens, walling them in, requiring them to "verify their age" before letting them out of their cages into the Internet.
    - philjohn 11mo ago
      Seeing as the investigation was by the ICO instead of OFCOM, yes, very much so. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?
      - card_zero 11mo ago
        That makes no difference. "Data protection" or not, it was pressure for age verification.
        philjohn 11mo ago
        Can you please provide a source for your claim?
        card_zero 11mo ago
        No, it doesn't need a source. It's not mysterious. To meet the demand, age verification would be necessary. What's your claim? I guess you could be saying that the regulators were carrying out legal duties like blind automatons, without giving a thought to the way their requirements would have to be met.
        philjohn 11mo ago
        My claim is the documentation about the ICO investigation and the resulting fine. It's an entirely different piece of regulation to the "horror" of the OSA. It's not hard - you're not allowed to target adverts for children - if Imgur aren't able to agree to that, they are within their rights to decide they don't want to properly safeguard the private information of children and withdraw from the market. That many other providers haven't thrown their toys out of the pram and complied with the law would show they decided if they can't tailor ads to children they wouldn't be able to turn a profit in the UK.
    - deleted 11mo ago
      [deleted]
    - daveoc64 11mo ago
      Yes. The ICO investigation that resulted in Imgur blocking the UK pre-dates the Online Safety Act coming into force. As others have mentioned, Ofcom is responsible for enforcement of the OSA - but the investigation against Imgur was carried out by the ICO.

by netXten 11mo ago

So you are just a simple GB citizen and some external site blocked access by country affiliation?! Is there any practical reason for blocking access to that site by geotargeting?

michaelt 11mo ago

The UK’s “online safety act” means a number of medium sized sites have decided it’s not worth doing business in the UK.

juntoalaluna 11mo ago
This is not why imgur have left though, they didn't want to comply with Data Protection laws.
- michaelt 11mo ago
  The "online safety act" introduced mandatory age verification starting in July 2025. The government announced "plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data" in September 2025 [1] Are you telling me those were unrelated? How are you going to fine a website over age checks without the law that requires age checks? [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo
  - ww520 11mo ago
    The governments of the countries that dabbling into the "think of the children" laws should build their own "safe" internets for their citizens, walling them in, requiring them to "verify their age" before letting them out of their cages into the Internet.
  - philjohn 11mo ago
    Seeing as the investigation was by the ICO instead of OFCOM, yes, very much so. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?
    - card_zero 11mo ago
      That makes no difference. "Data protection" or not, it was pressure for age verification.
      - philjohn 11mo ago
        Can you please provide a source for your claim?
        card_zero 11mo ago
        No, it doesn't need a source. It's not mysterious. To meet the demand, age verification would be necessary. What's your claim? I guess you could be saying that the regulators were carrying out legal duties like blind automatons, without giving a thought to the way their requirements would have to be met.
        philjohn 11mo ago
        My claim is the documentation about the ICO investigation and the resulting fine. It's an entirely different piece of regulation to the "horror" of the OSA. It's not hard - you're not allowed to target adverts for children - if Imgur aren't able to agree to that, they are within their rights to decide they don't want to properly safeguard the private information of children and withdraw from the market. That many other providers haven't thrown their toys out of the pram and complied with the law would show they decided if they can't tailor ads to children they wouldn't be able to turn a profit in the UK.
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
  - daveoc64 11mo ago
    Yes. The ICO investigation that resulted in Imgur blocking the UK pre-dates the Online Safety Act coming into force. As others have mentioned, Ofcom is responsible for enforcement of the OSA - but the investigation against Imgur was carried out by the ICO.