diff --git a/changedetectionio/api/api_v1.py b/changedetectionio/api/api_v1.py
index f81b1d58..b91d7fd2 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/api/api_v1.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/api/api_v1.py
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ class CreateWatch(Resource):
         json_data = request.get_json()
         url = json_data['url'].strip()
 
-        if not validators.url(json_data['url'].strip()):
+        if not validators.url(url, simple_host=True):
             return "Invalid or unsupported URL", 400
 
         if json_data.get('proxy'):
diff --git a/changedetectionio/forms.py b/changedetectionio/forms.py
index 7199b445..7aa64d96 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/forms.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/forms.py
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ class validateURL(object):
         import validators
 
         try:
-            validators.url(field.data.strip())
+            validators.url(field.data.strip(), simple_host=True)
         except validators.ValidationFailure:
             message = field.gettext('\'%s\' is not a valid URL.' % (field.data.strip()))
             raise ValidationError(message)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9c09aca3..7629d352 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ flask~=2.0
 inscriptis~=2.2
 pytz
 timeago~=1.0
-validators
+validators==0.21.2
+
 
 # Set these versions together to avoid a RequestsDependencyWarning
 # >= 2.26 also adds Brotli support if brotli is installed