Rule 34: The Internet Rule Behind Every R34 Site
Rule 34 is the internet maxim that if something exists, there is porn of it, first written as a webcomic caption by Peter Morley-Souter. Wikipedia dates the comic to 2003 and Dictionary.com to 2004. Its caption read "Rule #34 There is porn of it. No exceptions." Written as one word, rule34 now names whole sites, among them Rule34.xxx with its 16,109,255 posts and Paheal, which we describe without recommending.
Where Rule 34 Came From
Rule 34 came from a single comic panel. Peter Morley-Souter, who drew as TangoStari, posted it in reaction to a porn parody of a newspaper comic strip, and the caption numbered the idea as Rule #34.
The comic first appeared on the Zoom-Out site, according to Know Your Meme and Dictionary.com. The later wording "If it exists, there is porn of it" grew out of that caption, and CNN used it in 2013.
The date of the comic is disputed. Wikipedia gives August 13, 2003, with no source attached to that sentence. Dictionary.com says 2004, and Know Your Meme traces the earliest copy to a Google cache from October 5, 2004. On the sources available, the comic dates to 2003 or 2004.
Authorship has a rival claim as well. In May 2009, a Something Awful user called Electric Eggs claimed to have drawn the comic, per Know Your Meme. Wikipedia, Dictionary.com and Know Your Meme still credit Morley-Souter.
How Rule 34 Spread Through the Rules of the Internet
Rule 34 spread as entry 34 of the Rules of the Internet, an informal list that CNN says "began around 2006 as a guide for the Internet collective Anonymous."
2003 or 2004
The TangoStari comic appears on Zoom-Out with the "Rule #34" caption.
March 30, 2006
Urban Dictionary gets its first Rule 34 definition, according to Know Your Meme.
October 12, 2006
The rule shows up in a list of internet rules on Encyclopedia Dramatica, per Know Your Meme.
May 2007
Paheal launches a searchable "Rule 34 database," per Know Your Meme.
August 20, 2007
xkcd #305 runs a strip titled "Rule 34" with the line "If you can imagine it, there is porn of it."
February 15, 2013
CNN calls Rule 34 "likely the most famous" of the internet rules.
March 1, 2018
Dictionary.com publishes a slang entry for Rule 34.
Wiktionary defines Rule 34 as "The proposition that there are pornographic depictions of anything and everything, especially as fan art on the Internet." Several large sites built on that kind of fan art later took the rule's name.
How the Internet Rule 34 Website Took Its Name
Know Your Meme dates Paheal's database to May 2007, the earliest launch of an internet rule 34 website I found, and Paheal still calls itself "The Original since 2007." It runs on Shimmie, software "based on the Danbooru concept." Booru, the word for this kind of tag-driven image board, comes from Danbooru, which Fanlore dates to 2005.
- Rule34.xxx began at rule34.booru.org, with an archived copy from May 14, 2011, per Fanlore, and WHOIS data shown by urlert dates the rule34.xxx domain to January 18, 2012.
- PCRisk and Gridinsoft date Rule34video's domain to December 23, 2018. Its page title rewrites the maxim as "if it exists there is a video of it."
- The Rule34.com domain was registered earlier, on May 15, 2006, but an urlscan.io capture from October 25, 2026 shows a webcam page there.
Rule34.xxx, Rule34video and Rule34.us all quote the maxim in their page titles. The Rule34.xxx slogan adds a dare, "If not, start uploading."
Explore Rule 34 SitesWhere Rule 34 Porn Is Posted Today
Rule 34 porn goes up on booru imageboards, video archives and Reddit communities, and each site counts it in its own units.
| Site | Type and size on October 26, 2026 | Rule on minors |
|---|---|---|
| Rule34.xxx | a Gelbooru booru with 16,109,255 posts, 3,570,819 of them tagged ai_generated | banned in two clauses |
| Rule34video | a rule 34 video archive with 334,698 videos whose homepage notice says it no longer accepts AI uploads | banned, first item |
| Rule 34 Paheal | a Shimmie booru that publishes no counter on its text pages | banned by appearance, with non-human drawings exempt; described, not recommended |
| Rule 34 World | a tag-based site with a premium tier paid in cryptocurrency only | banned in its terms |
| Reddit r/rule34 | a subreddit whose rules page would not load for me | banned by Reddit Rule 4 |
Source: each site's own pages, read under our methodology.
R34 porn on rule34.xxx has to be drawn, animated or rendered, since the terms send real porn to a sister site, and the same rule bars photorealistic AI work and deepfakes. Rule 34 World and Rule34video, two of the r34 websites we compare on search tools, ban sexual images of children in near-identical wording.
What Rule 34 Sites Refuse to Host
Rule 34 sites restrict real people, paywalled art and unlabeled AI work, and Rule34.xxx has a rule on all three.
Photos, deepfakes and actors
Rule34.xxx bans "photos or videos of real human beings" along with photorealistic AI and deepfakes, and Rule34video turns away "any form of realistic pornography." Rule 34 Paheal bans fakes of actors "unless they are in character."
Paid and unreleased work
"No paywalled or unreleased content," say the Rule34.xxx rules, and "Paid content will be removed," while work taken down after a DMCA notice may not be uploaded again.
AI work must say so
Rule 34 Paheal requires every AI-made post to carry the tag "AI-generated." Rule34.xxx asks for the same tag plus ten more and caps AI uploads at 100 a day.
Minimum standards
Rule34.xxx sets a 250x250 pixel minimum, bans upscales and lists watermarked work as prohibited. A February 8, 2026 announcement limited the site to "art by Intermediate artists and above."
On Rule34.xxx, only "the original artist" can request a takedown, by email, with links to the images and proof of ownership, and the flag for deletion link does not count as a takedown.
Rule 34 and the Law on Drawn Images
Rule 34 has a hard legal limit in the US, Canada and most of the UK, because the laws on sexual images of children there can apply to drawings, cartoons and animation as well as photos.
- United States. 18 U.S.C. 1466A can cover obscene drawings and cartoons, since it reaches "a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting," and states that "the minor depicted" need not "actually exist."
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Section 62 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 makes possession of a prohibited image of a child an offense. Section 65 covers "a moving or still image (produced by any means)," defines a child as under 18, and section 66 sets a maximum of 3 years in prison. Crown Prosecution Service guidance for England and Wales, updated June 29, 2026, says the offense targets non-photographic images "including Computer-Generated Images (CGIs), cartoons, manga images and drawings."
- Canada. Section 163.1 of the Criminal Code covers any "photographic, film, video or other visual representation, whether or not it was made by electronic or mechanical means."
In the US, report suspected child sexual abuse material to the NCMEC CyberTipline online or at 1-800-843-5678. In the UK, the Internet Watch Foundation accepts reports of "AI, animation, cartoon or 'drawn'" images but acts on drawn ones only when they are hosted in the UK.
Rule 34 Questions
Is Rule 34 a real rule?
No law or authority stands behind it. Rule 34 is entry 34 in an informal list called the Rules of the Internet, which CNN traced to around 2006 and the Anonymous collective. The claim that porn exists of everything began as a comic's caption, and the sites named after the rule use it as a slogan.
Is Rule 34 the same as Rule34.xxx?
No. Rule 34 is the internet maxim that if something exists, there is porn of it. Rule34.xxx is one of several sites named after it, alongside Rule34video, Rule 34 Paheal and Rule 34 World, and each of them sets its own rules on what may be uploaded and who may view it.
What is Rule 35?
Rule 35 comes right after Rule 34 in the usual list. CNN quoted it in 2013 as "If no porn of it exists at the moment, it will be made." Where Rule 34 claims porn of everything already exists, Rule 35 promises that any gap gets filled.
Is Rule 34 also the title of a novel?
Yes. Charles Stross, a science fiction writer, published a novel called Rule 34, which Wikipedia dates to 2011 and Dictionary.com to 2012. Dictionary.com adds that the book was nominated for both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Locus Award. The book shares its title with the internet maxim.
Which dictionaries include Rule 34?
Dictionary.com has carried a slang entry since March 1, 2018, and Wiktionary has one too. The Merriam-Webster page would not load for me, and the OneLook index lists no Oxford, Collins or Cambridge entry. Wikipedia says Yale University Press's Dictionary of Modern Proverbs includes the rule, though I did not open the book.
Explore Rule 34 Sites That Ban Underage Content
Rule34.xxx, Rule34video, Rule 34 World and Rule34Gen bar sexual images of children in their terms, and Reddit's Rule 4 does the same for r/rule34. Every site we recommend limits adult content to users 18 and over.
Explore Rule 34 Sites