Reddit Fined £14.47m Over Age Verification Checks

Reddit has been handed a £14.47 million fine by the UK’s data watchdog after investigators found that it unlawfully used children’s personal information and failed to properly protect young users.

The fine, which has been issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), is the largest the regulator has ever given out for breaches of the laws around children’s privacy. The watchdog said that the platform did not have strong enough systems in place to check their users’ ages, meaning that children under 13 were able to access the site and have their data collected.

According to the ICO, Reddit relied on users self-declaring their age when signing up, an approach it warned was “easy to bypass”. Despite the platform’s terms stating that under-13s are not allowed on the site, the regulator said its estimates suggested there were “a large number of children under 13 on the platform”.

The investigation found that Reddit did not put in place a robust age verification system and therefore lacked a lawful basis to process children’s personal data. It also failed to carry out a data protection impact assessment to assess and reduce risks to children before January 2025.

UK Information Commissioner John Edwards said: "It's concerning that a company the size of Reddit failed in its legal duty to protect the personal information of UK children. Children under 13 had their personal information collected and used in ways they could not understand, consent to or control. That left them potentially exposed to content they should not have seen. This is unacceptable and has resulted in today's fine.”

“Companies operating online services likely to be accessed by children have a responsibility to protect those children by ensuring they're not exposed to risks through the way their data is used. To do this, they need to be confident they know the age of their users and have appropriate, effective age assurance measures in place. Reddit failed to meet these expectations. They must do better and we are continuing to consider the age assurance controls now implemented by the platform.”

“Relying on users to declare their age themselves is not enough when children may be at risk and we are focusing now on companies that are primarily using this method. I therefore strongly encourage industry to take note, reflect on their practices and urgently make any necessary improvements to their platforms.”

The ICO began looking into Reddit last March alongside TikTok and image-sharing site Imgur over concerns about how they handle children’s data. Earlier this month, Imgur’s owner MediaLab was fined £250,000 for similar issues. In 2023, TikTok was fined £12.7 million after initially facing a £27 million fine.

Reddit said it disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal.

A spokesperson for the company said: "Reddit doesn't require users to share information about their identities, regardless of age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and safety. The ICO's insistence that we collect more private information on every UK user is counterintuitive and at odds with our strong belief in our users' online privacy and safety."

In July 2025, Reddit began introducing age verification measures to comply with the Online Safety Act. However, the ICO said platforms likely to be accessed by children must go further to make sure they truly understand who is using their services and how young users’ data is being handled.