Direct links have never been disallowed, either by design or policy, so not sure where you're getting that.
Not to mention it's just downright slower than imgur.
Although, it's not like imgur is without fault nowadays, in their continued efforts to foster their own (IMO, awful) community off of the back of another (Reddit), it is nigh-on impossible to go directly to an image on the mobile site now - instead you get forced back to their gallery-style page full of 'related content', which only serves to slow the loading of the shit I actually want to see.