Imgsrc.ru
Type of site | Image hosting service |
|---|---|
| Available in | Russian, English |
| Headquarters | Russia |
| Website | imgsrc |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | January 2006 |
| Current status | Active |
iMGSRC.RU (also written ImgSrc.ru or IMGSRC.RU) is a free Russian image hosting and photo sharing website launched in January 2006. It allows registered users to upload, organise and share digital images and albums.[1][2] As of early 2026, the platform hosts more than 87 million user-uploaded photographs and has over 1.6 million registered users, making it the largest active Russian-language photo hosting service by number of uploads.[2] The site is hosted in Russia and its servers are protected by DDoS-Guard Ltd.[3]
The name of the service is derived from the HTML image tag <IMG SRC="url">, in which IMG is the tag used to embed images and SRC is its attribute specifying the path to the image file.[1]
The site has attracted significant global traffic and recurring controversy due to its user-generated content policy and documented instances of illegal material being hosted on its pages.[4]
The website is built using PHP.[3]
History
iMGSRC.RU was launched in January 2006.[1][2] The site's official LiveJournal blog, under the account imgsrc_ru, was created on 12 May 2006 and serves as the main channel for announcements and selected photo features. By October 2006, the number of registered users had reached approximately 12,000 and approximately one million photographs had been uploaded.[1]
The service grew in popularity in Russia during the peak years of the LiveJournal blogging platform, where many users employed iMGSRC.RU to embed photographs in their posts. In the Russian blogosphere it acquired a reputation for reliability, speed and high availability. A 2010 review of popular photo hosting services published by 3DNews noted that iMGSRC.RU offered very fast image hosting with no bandwidth restrictions for free users, in contrast to international competitors such as Photobucket and Flickr.[5][6]
As of March 2026, the service received approximately 18.5 million visits per month according to traffic analytics, with its main audience located in the United States, Germany and Finland.[7] As of mid-2022, iMGSRC.RU ranked first in the Rambler TOP-100 chart in the "Culture and Art / Photography" category and was listed among the top ten photography websites globally by SimilarWeb, alongside Flickr, Shutterstock and Getty Images.
Blocks and regulatory actions
Russia
Since the establishment of the Russian Unified Register of Prohibited Information in 2012, iMGSRC.RU administrators have repeatedly removed content flagged by Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media). According to a 2017 statement from the agency, the site's administrators had removed prohibited material from 1,307 pages containing child pornography since the register began operating in 2013.[8][9]
On 8 July 2021, Roskomnadzor temporarily blocked iMGSRC.RU across the territory of the Russian Federation. The stated reason for the block was the hosting of photographs constituting child pornography. The site was fully unblocked on 9 August 2021, after the administration removed the offending content.[1]
The site's own LiveJournal blog has published statements contesting the characterisation of the platform as a curated service, describing it as a user-generated content website that relies on automated moderation algorithms, user reports and human moderators to identify and remove illegal material.[2]
International
In 2014, a United States District Court in Kansas issued a ruling that recognised iMGSRC.RU as a site frequently used to host and trade child pornography.[4] In 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the sentencing of a former teacher in the Houston area who had solicited nude and explicit images of minors via iMGSRC.RU during an online undercover investigation.[10]
In September 2019, a United States Army staff sergeant, Richard Ciccarella, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to making a false statement to federal agents in connection with photographs he had uploaded to iMGSRC.RU while assigned to communications duties at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, between August 2017 and March 2018.[11][12] The case drew international attention to the platform. Business Insider, which reported on the case in detail, noted that the site's FAQ explicitly stated that child pornography was absolutely prohibited, while also observing that enforcement of the rule appeared inconsistent in practice.[4]
Academic research and forensics
iMGSRC.RU has been referenced by name in peer-reviewed criminological research focused on child sexual exploitation material (CSEM). A 2015 study by Chad Steel published in Child Abuse & Neglect (Elsevier), which analysed web search trends for CSEM across Google, Bing and Yandex, identified imgsrc.ru as a site that had grown in search prominence as a delivery mechanism for such material, describing it as "a site popular with child pornographers."[13]
A doctoral dissertation on child sexual abuse material networks on the darkweb, published through Leiden University, found that offenders active on darkweb forums had prior histories on clearnet platforms, and specifically named IMGSRC.ru among the platforms mentioned in case files as a means of accessing CSAM before offenders transitioned to anonymous networks.[14]
Moderation policy
iMGSRC.RU describes itself as a user-generated content platform, comparable in structure to other large social image services. The site's FAQ states that the operators "cannot be held responsible for what users post on the site" but commit to keeping the platform "as clean as possible." The platform explicitly prohibits child sexual abuse material and states that accounts found in violation will be permanently banned.[4]
The site publishes its terms of service in both Russian and English and prohibits the storage of images that contravene Russian law.[1] The platform notes that images may be removed without the consent of the uploader if they violate the established rules, and that there is always a risk of content loss as a result.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "IMGSRC.RU". Знание.Вики (in русский). Российское общество «Знание». Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "iMGSRC.RU blog". LiveJournal (in русский). Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "imgsrc.ru -- Website Information". WMTips. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "A US soldier working at Mar-a-Lago uploaded photos of an underage girl to a Russian website -- a closer look at the site reveals a horrific underworld". Business Insider India. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Обзор популярных фотохостинговых сервисов". 3DNews (in русский). 17 February 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ Шляхтина, Светлана. "В поисках фотохостинга". КомпьютерПресс (in русский). Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "imgsrc.ru Website Traffic, Ranking, Analytics". Semrush. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "По требованию РКН фотохостинг imgsrc прекратил доступ к детской порнографии". РСпектр (in русский). 21 November 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Фотохостинг imgsrc закрыл доступ к 14 страницам с детской порнографией по требованию Роскомнадзора". Рамблер/новости (in русский). 21 November 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Former Houston-area teacher sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for receiving child pornography". U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Army Soldier Formerly Stationed at Mar-a-Lago Sentenced to Probation for Lying to Feds About Child Porn". Newsweek. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Soldier who worked at Mar-a-Lago sentenced for lying during child porn investigation". Army Times. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ Steel, Chad M.S. (2015). "Web-based child pornography: The global impact of deterrence efforts and its consumption on mobile platforms" (PDF). Child Abuse & Neglect. Elsevier. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
- ↑ Child sexual abuse material networks on the darkweb: a multi-method approach (Thesis). Leiden University. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
External links
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