Access to images hosted by Imgur blocked in the UK

[S.J.]

Hello, friends!

If you're from the UK, you may be going through the frustrating experience of seeing blue rectangles around the site announcing that certain content is not viewable to you, which is particularly apparent on the desktop site when viewing user signatures. From 30 September 2025, Imgur has blocked access to the site in the United Kingdom due to not being able or willing to meet UK regulatory standards. Imgur has not yet announced whether they plan to reopen access to the UK in the future.

What that means is that if there are any images on TBT that are hosted on Imgur, members in the UK will not be able to see those images, and instead they will see a blue rectangle like the image below.

Spoiler: sad blue rectangle

While we don't have a solution for the inconvenience this causes, one temporary solution for the unsightly signatures is for people who are affected by this to turn off being able to see signatures. It's very simple, and I've provided instructions below.

Spoiler: Instructions

Step 1: Click on your name/profile picture at the top of the site screen, and then click Preferences.

Step 2. Scroll down the page until you see Content options, and then de-select "Show people's signatures with their messages". Click Save, and you're done!

In the meantime, if you'd like to host an image, and would like your fellow TBTers in the UK to be able to see it, I'd recommend hosting on another site, such as using the free version of imagebb or another free hosting site!

 

[Roxxy]

Thank you @S.J. for thinking about us across the pond . Personally all who know me will know that I am slightly obsessed with collectables so here is my personal blue square of sad (sorry to mention this @Jhine7 )

Spoiler: Sad Blue 💙

 

[Liz!]

Thanks S.J.

Same Roxxy. I messaged Jhine the other day with this screenshot.
Collectible lurking days are over.

 

[Jhine7]

Thank you @S.J. for thinking about us across the pond . Personally all who know me will know that I am slightly obsessed with collectables so here is my personal blue square of sad (sorry to mention this @Jhine7 )

Spoiler: Sad Blue 💙

View attachment 625719

Thanks S.J.

Same Roxxy. I messaged Jhine the other day with this screenshot.
Collectible lurking days are over.

View attachment 625723

Thank you two for pointing this out! I discovered it's a pretty easy fix for all users who have collectible images in their shops, threads, etc. Just make sure to copy/paste the collectible image directly from its own individual collectible page, i.e. https://www.belltreeforums.com/shop/pinky.253/

You'll know it's fixed if when you hover over the image, it says its name instead of xudfjnjkxf.png.

 

[Doo]

Oh thank you, I was so confused I deleted my signature because I couldn’t see it. No idea what it even was

 

[themysterybidder]

Thank you for this update! I really miss seeing other members pets.

 

[S.J.]

I had a little hope that Imgur would resolve this issue, but after two months, that's not yet the case (and as far as I know, they haven't signalled that anything will change). It's disappointing, as it means there are many broken images across the site for UK users, including many of my own.

After seeing this issue pop up again, I thought I would look into some additional alternatives to Imgur to see what's out there! Surprisingly, not as many options as I would have expected.

Disclaimer: I want to say from the outset that The Bell Tree doesn't have a preferred image host for files that can't be hosted on-site, and there is no official staff opinion on this. My thoughts below are just me exploring the options, and giving my personal opinion.

I signed up to five image hosting websites below and uploaded an image to each to get a feel for them, as well as looked at what features were available. I also looked at some other websites (listed underneath the table), which I felt were not suitable for comparison.

	ImgBB	ImgHippo	PostImages	Imgpx	Free Image Host
Account	Optional	Required	Optional	Required	Optional
Free?	Free and paid tiers	Free	Free and paid tiers	Free	Free
Ads	Ad-supported	Ad-supported	Ad-suppported (heavily)	Ad-supported	Not specified
Max. file size	32 MB	Not listed	32 MB	32 MB	64 MB (128 MB with account)
How long files are stored	Not automatically deleted	Not automatically deleted	Not automatically deleted	Not automatically deleted	Not automatically deleted
Supported file types	JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, WEBP, HEIC, PDF	JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, WEBP, PDF	Not specified	JPG, JPEG, WEBP, PNG, BMP (converted to JPEG), GIF	JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, WEBP
Automatic compression?	No	No	Not specified	BMP to JPEG Some PNG to JPEG	Not specified
Upload limits	No limit	No limit	No limit	Not specified	Not specified
Other considerations	Did not see an ad when testing.	Newer (2022), smaller site	Heavy ads; including clicks that open new windows. Hot-linked images are scaled down to 1280 px.	Smaller service; lesser known.	I experienced lag when using the site. Uploaded images are not private by default.

Sites I chose not to move forward with: Flickr - it would not allow me to sign up, so I couldn't assess it; Hostr - sign ups were disabled; Catbox - Too many restricted countries and major service providers; Imgbox - Album links on Imgbox are interspersed with full page ads, which I feel is too ad heavy to be appropriate.

My overall thoughts: I wasn't a fan of PostImages, because when you are signed out, it is heavily ad-supported, including some clicks that open ads in new windows. This is the site I would recommend the least. ImgHippo and Imgpx are relatively straightforward. They seem like smaller sites, and they have some missing information about their features. I just didn't feel as secure with them. Free Image Host is very similar to ImgBB. However, the biggest caveat is that if you are a guest, your images are not private and are posted to their "Explore" page. With an account, images are not private by default, but you can change your settings. I previously hosted almost all of my images on Imgur, but ImgBB is one I knew and had used once or twice. Of the five hosting sites, I found ImgBB to be the most preferable. I'm actually glad I made an account, since it is useful to have an account where all your images are stored. They said they are ad-supported, but I liked that there were no ads, at least not on this occasion. The UI is relatively simple and straightforward. They're also very transparent about their features. This is the site I'll personally use moving forward.

If anyone else has image hosting recommendations, or has experience hosting images on the sites I mentioned, I would be interested to hear!