diff --git a/lib/flickrclient.php b/lib/flickrclient.php
index ffe11588519..1baace00c82 100644
--- a/lib/flickrclient.php
+++ b/lib/flickrclient.php
@@ -60,19 +60,31 @@ class flickr_client extends oauth_helper {
      * @param moodle_url|string $callbackurl
      */
     public function __construct($consumerkey, $consumersecret, $callbackurl = '') {
-        global $CFG;
-        $version = moodle_major_version();
-        $useragent = "MoodleSite/$version (+{$CFG->wwwroot})";
-
         parent::__construct([
             'api_root' => self::OAUTH_ROOT,
             'oauth_consumer_key' => $consumerkey,
             'oauth_consumer_secret' => $consumersecret,
             'oauth_callback' => $callbackurl,
-            'http_options' => ['CURLOPT_USERAGENT' => $useragent]
+            'http_options' => [
+                'CURLOPT_USERAGENT' => static::user_agent(),
+            ],
         ]);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return User-Agent string suitable for calls to Flickr endpoint, avoiding problems caused by the string returned by
+     * the {@see core_useragent::get_moodlebot_useragent} helper, which is often rejected due to presence of "Bot" within
+     *
+     * @return string
+     */
+    public static function user_agent(): string {
+        global $CFG;
+
+        $version = moodle_major_version();
+
+        return "MoodleSite/{$version} (+{$CFG->wwwroot})";
+    }
+
     /**
      * Temporarily store the request token secret in the session.
      *
diff --git a/lib/flickrlib.php b/lib/flickrlib.php
index 4b38b5dbc40..7d54e28573c 100644
--- a/lib/flickrlib.php
+++ b/lib/flickrlib.php
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@
  * @subpackage 3rd-party
  */
 
+defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
+
+global $CFG;
+require_once("{$CFG->libdir}/flickrclient.php");
+
 /**
  * Flickr Class
  * @package moodlecore
@@ -81,9 +86,8 @@ class phpFlickr {
 
         // Initialize curl helper, set custom user agent as Flickr blocks our "MoodleBot" agent string.
         $this->curl = new curl(array('cache'=>true, 'module_cache'=>'repository'));
-        $version = moodle_major_version();
         $this->curl->setopt([
-            'CURLOPT_USERAGENT' => "MoodleSite/$version (+{$CFG->wwwroot})"
+            'CURLOPT_USERAGENT' => flickr_client::user_agent(),
         ]);
     }