Even if you completely disable avatars on your wordpress website, it will still load avatars from https://secure.gravatar.com when members of your team log into the website. In order to fix this privacy issue we can use a plugin to use a locally stored avatar for scenarios where avatars can't be disabled completely.
Let's assume your wordpress website is: https://example.com
- Log into your worpress website:
Go to https://example.com/wp-admin and use your administrator credentials.
- Install the 'Redirect Gravatar requests' plugin:
Go to https://example.com/wp-admin/plugin-install.php?s=Redirect+Gravatar+requests&tab=search&type=term
- Disable avatars or use a standard avatar which is stored locally
You can find the settings for that here: https://example.com/wp-admin/options-discussion.php
Congrats, now you won't have any more requests going to https://secure.gravatar.com .