I tried logging into Imgur recently, but they now block all UK traffic and redirect you to a GDPR deletion form, which I was happy to fill in.
Note that I was responding from the email registered to my account, and even though they could verify it, they still demanded:
- A description of any private images (I cannot recall, it’s a 10+ year old account I barely used)
- My last login location (no idea either as it was probably years ago. Was I on VPN?)
I made a real effort to answer, giving my best guesses for both, but their responses were consistently passive-aggressive, as if I was the one being unreasonable! And all that friction just for them to delete my email address and a couple of images that I may or may not have uploaded to Imgur over the last 10 years.
After going back and forth, they left me no choice but to file an ICO complaint.
Has anyone else experienced this with Imgur?
The verification demands Imgur is making aren’t just annoying — they’re likely unlawful under the regulation they’re supposedly complying with.
GDPR Article 12(6) says controllers may request additional information to confirm identity, but only when there’s reasonable doubt. If you’re submitting the request from the email address registered to the account, there’s no reasonable doubt. That’s the account holder. The password reset flow proves it.
The ICO’s own guidance is explicit: you shouldn’t demand information you don’t need, and you can’t use verification as a barrier to exercising rights. Asking for ‘last login location’ and ‘description of private images’ from a 10-year-old account isn’t identity verification — it’s friction engineering. The technical term is ‘sludge’: deliberately impossible requirements designed to make people give up.
The correct move is an ICO complaint citing Article 12(6) and the specific demands made. The ICO has been increasingly willing to act on this pattern. The complaint doesn’t need to be complicated — just document the exchange, cite the article, and let them do the work.