As of July 24, 2025 at 11:59 PM UTC, Civitai is no longer accessible to users in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
This is due to the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which imposes strict legal requirements on all platforms with user-generated content. These include biometric age checks, complex legal risk assessments, and personal liability for staff. These rules apply even to platforms based outside the UK.
This is not a decision we made lightly. We began looking into what compliance would involve, but quickly realized it is not something we can feasibly manage with a team of our size. The legal and financial burden is simply too great.
We are heartbroken to block access, and we know this is upsetting. If you are a UK citizen, we encourage you to contact your Member of Parliament and share your concerns about how the OSA affects access to art, technology, and online communities. You can also learn more at Ofcom’s Online Safety Guidance.
We are truly sorry, and we hope to return in the future. Thank you for being part of the Civitai community.
The Act will give providers new duties to implement systems and processes to reduce risks their services are used for illegal activity, and to take down illegal content when it does appear.
From the Ofcom website
“It’s no secret that one of the uses of generative AI is the generation of synthetic pornography—that data being trained on very real pornography,” Moreau said in one of the Slack messages. “It begs the question of what use of generative AI is considered ethical when some use cases showcased open a slippery slope towards the generation of child pornography, non-consensual ‘fake porn’, images of extreme violence.”
fair, it is supplemental but its still relevant to the wider conversation. My initial point was that it was not a surprise a site hosting synthetic CSAM and non consensual AI porn would end up having issues with OSA.
Access Restricted for UK Visitors