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Imgur, one of the web\u2019s most popular image sharing and hosting platforms, has shut off access to its site to users in the United Kingdom, following a notice of a fine by the country\u2019s data protection watchdog.<\/p>\n
According to reports on social media, users attempting to load Imgur from the U.K. are met with an error message that says: \u201cContent not available in your region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) in March had launched an investigation<\/a> into various social media platforms, including Imgur, looking at how they use children\u2019s data, and protect the privacy of minors in the country. <\/p>\n The regulator said<\/a> on Tuesday that it had reached provisional findings in the investigation, and had notified Imgur\u2019s parent company, MediaLab AI, earlier this month that it intended to impose a fine. The regulator said Imgur\u2019s decision to restrict access in the country was a \u201ccommercial decision taken by the company.\u201d<\/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 Tim Capel, interim executive director of regulatory supervision at the ICO, said in a statement. \u201cWe have been clear that exiting the UK does not allow an organisation to avoid responsibility for any prior infringement of data protection law, and our investigation remains ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n The ICO said its update was provided to \u201cgive clarity on our investigation, and we will not be providing any further detail at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Imgur and its parent company MediaLab AI did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n Founded in 2009, Imgur quickly rose to prominence as Reddit\u2019s favored image hosting service, and today has a massive community of its own. The site had more than 195 million visits in August, per Semrush<\/a>. <\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n