Bandwidth is the issue, and server space. I wonder, can Lemmy servers be setup where say, someone runs an ass appreciation server. That server, when people post, sends the image to redgifs?
Then the server space issue is mute and porn, erotic art, video memes, etc can thrive.
*moot
This could be done technically, at least as long as the real hoster (redgifs here) isn’t trying to stop automated uploads and isn’t going to ban the intermediate server.
But you’d probably have to hack around in the Lemmy code a bit because I don’t think it knows how to do this already.