MediaLab Acquires Imgur

In a blog post, Imgur announced that it has been acquired by a company called MediaLab. "It's the beginning of a new chapter, and we're excited to share the news with you," writes the Imgur team. From the post: We've been acquired by MediaLab! MediaLab, based in Santa Monica, CA, is a company that owns great internet brands like Whisper, Kik, WorldStarHipHop, Amino, Genius and others. They're a team of technologists, product managers, designers, and community builders who geek out over building cool stuff for large scale audiences. We made the choice to join the MediaLab portfolio because their resources and shared services can help accelerate us closer toward our goal and keep the main Imgur team focused on what we do best: creating the best place for community-powered entertainment online. MediaLab has committed to investing more resources in engineering and community to continue adding new features, new tools for creators, and growing Imgur. Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed. You can read the full post here.

Wait please don't go

[future assassin]

I need more of your tears, it makes my beer taste better.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Allow me to fix that for you: "I don't have anything sane or logical to say so here have this word turd about librulz"

We Photogeddon 2.0

[TigerPlish]

Rember when Photobucket said phuckit and took its marbles and went home? 3/4 of the forums' pictures broke, at least the ones I frequented back then.

Same's about to happen again. You really think Imgur's new overlords are going to be keen to keep the freeebies going?

HAHAHAHAHAHAH! No. Find someplace less shady to stash your forum pix. No, I have no suggestions, because IDGAF about any of this shit anymore. All of social media can spontaneously combust, and all I'll do is make s'mores and grill some dead cow on the embers.

Re:

[CohibaVancouver]

Find someplace less shady to stash your forum pix. No, I have no suggestions, because IDGAF about any of this shit anymore.

Pirate Bay to the rescue.

https://bayimg.com/ [bayimg.com]

And JOURNALISTS would write:

[correct0r]

"Medialab, a brand holding company, has acquired Imgur, the image hosting company" Journalism 101 DO YOUR JOB

Not Good News

[slayernine]

MediaLab is known for among other things, allowing exploitative photos of abused children to be traded on Kik and not doing much of anything about it. Other things they are known for is plastering ads everywhere to suck as much money out as possible. I fully expect them to gut any ongoing development and just milk imgur for whatever it is worth. Hopefully the employees get a nice payout from the acquisition.

Re:

[OrangeTide]

Yeah, I'm not thrilled with the acquisition by MediaLab AI. I nuked my imgur account today, I probably won't miss it too badly except on those rare occasions that I want to share a screen shot of my toy projects with my friends.

Re: Not Good News

[BcNexus]

Iâ(TM)ve used Kik and visited WorldStarHipHop. The former is a scummy app, and the latter, a scummy website. I am sorry to see Imgur bought by them.

Though I donâ(TM)t like to see most of the fight videos posted on WorldStar alongside the other stuff, I do give credit to MediaLabs for hosting some of the NSFL/NSFW content that they do that doesnâ(TM)t directly hurt anyone - though posting videos of fights may be indirectly harmful. And they do provide a less moderated messaging app compar

Re: Not Good News

[BcNexus]

Yikes, even their explicit mission is disgusting. They donâ(TM)t build or create, they just acquire and extract:
Our mission is to enrich and empower consumers in their everyday lives through expansion and acquisitions. - https://www.medialab.la/ [medialab.la]
If you have a mobile social community, messaging application, gaming, music or sports property and are interested in partnering or discussing an acquisition, please click here. - https://www.medialab.la/contac... [medialab.la]

Login/Phone Required

[RegistrationIsDumb83]

Before you give imgur too much credit, let's remember they (briefly?) tried a phase where NSFW required not only an account (ugh) but an account with a verified phone number (hard pass!). I think they stopped doing it when they saw their traffic plummet immediately.

Re: Login/Phone Required

[BcNexus]

I did not know that and hadnâ(TM)t experienced it despite potentially being exposed to that through Reddit. TIL.

Re: Not Good News

[tresf]

Source: https://darknetdiaries.com/epi... [darknetdiaries.com]

Re:

[slayernine]

Yes, this is where I heard about it too. Great podcast!

Down the toilet in 3... 2...

[Wokan]

This is the same company that hasn't done anything (meaningful) about the child port on Kik. Does this mean Imgur is the next peadohaven or is it already one and they figure it aligns with their other properties?

I, for one

[hduff]

I, for one, welcome our new Imgur overlords.

I'm curious as to how how will pronounce "Imgur" . . .