Last month, Imgur threw Redditors into a tizzy after it announced that it would no longer allow erotic content to be hosted on the platform. Previously, users on Reddit utilized Imgur’s image hosting capabilities to put up pictures and videos, especially those of the NSFW variety, as such a function was not natively available.
At the time, Imgur noted that the decision was to safeguard the “future of the Imgur community,” citing that such content could be detrimental to those who used the site and future business ventures.
Reddit set forth a similar decision as it limited mature media on the platform following a new plan to start charging for APIs. In this case, the move was to review and protect against how people participate in explicit content and its surrounding communities.
The news was made via the r/modnews subreddit, stating that images could be uploaded via desktop to 18+ communities. “This now gives us feature parity with our mobile apps, which (as you know) already has this functionality. You must set your community to 18+ if your community’s content will primarily be not safe for work (NSFW),” the post said.
Though, whether this means people will be able to upload NSFW work via its APIs is still being discussed by the company, according to a staff member.
Imgur’s exit seems to have been a catalyst for Reddit to start enabling its users to host their own mature content natively on the site. However, what this means for third-party apps and future business endeavors remains to be seen.