The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Reddit £14.47 million (about $19.5 million) for unlawfully collecting and processing personal data from children under 13 without proper safeguards.
The regulator said Reddit failed to implement effective age verification until July 2025, despite its rules banning under-13 users. Before then, many children reportedly used the platform, and their data was processed without a lawful basis, potentially exposing them to harmful content.
Although Reddit later introduced age checks and self-declaration prompts, the ICO said these measures were insufficient and easy to bypass. UK Information Commissioner John Edwards criticized the company for failing to protect children’s data and warned companies against relying solely on self-reported ages.
Reddit said it plans to appeal the decision, arguing most UK users are adults and that stronger identity checks could harm user privacy. The company reported 121 million daily and 471 million weekly active users across more than 100,000 communities.
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