This morning I received an email from Flickr saying there was a Terms of Service update that came into effect yesterday (24th July). My first thought was “what new restrictions are they going to implement now that’ll push SL folks out even more?”
Well the first major thing is a minimum age limit for account holders of 18.
What’s Changing For Everyone
The primary update is that Flickr will now require all new users to be 18 years of age or older to create an account. This change helps us align with evolving global online safety standards and ensures a consistent and safe environment for our entire community.
For residents in the UK, it gets worse:
For Users in the United Kingdom: Important Changes to Content Access
Due to new UK regulations designed to protect minors online, we are implementing a specific change for how content is accessed within the UK.
Effective July 24, 2025:
- Access to content with SafeSearch turned OFF will require a Flickr Pro subscription.
- This is because a Pro subscription requires credit card verification, which serves as age assurance under UK law.
So if you’re in the UK and want to see stuff that isn’t PG rated appropriate (which lets be honest applies to quite a bit of Second Life content) you’ll have to shell out for a Pro account.
The big flaw in that plan however is: You can open a bank account at 16 in the UK, or as young as 11 with parental involvement.
Further:
What this means for you in the UK
- Free Users: SafeSearch will be automatically enabled by default. To view all content on Flickr, you will need to upgrade to a Pro account.
- Pro Users: No action is needed. Your ability to turn SafeSearch off remains unchanged.
This change will definitely have a very detrimental affect a lot of people use of the site. Who I think will suffer most here will be merchants displaying their creations, all of a sudden they’ve lost the majority of their UK audience, and of course their UK customers that can’t see those adverts.
Another attempt by Flickr to try and push out Second Life and other virtual world content? Maybe, but that’s where we are now.