Reddit hit with huge UK fine over child safety failings
The UK’s data privacy watchdog has slapped online forum Reddit with a huge fine over errors involving children’s personal information.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said it imposed a fine of £14.5 million ($27.8 million) because the errors led to the platform using children’s data “illegally”.
“Children under the age of 13 have personal information collected and used in ways they cannot understand, consent to or control, potentially exposing them to content they should not see,” Information Commissioner John Edwards said.
“This is unacceptable and resulted in a fine today.”
The UK privacy regulator is stepping up scrutiny of online platforms over child safety. Earlier this month, MediaLab, owner of image-sharing site Imgur, was fined 247,590 pounds ($474,150) for similar errors and has also been investigating TikTok since last year.
The watchdog took issue with Reddit’s age verification measures. Although the platform does not allow children under the age of 13 to use its service, it was stated that there is no way to check the ages of its users before July 2025.
Edwards said online platforms that children were likely to access had a duty to protect them by ensuring children were not exposed to any risks “because of the way their data is used”.
He said they could do this “with effective age assurance measures.”
Reddit implemented age verification measures in July 2025, including requiring users to declare their age when creating an account to access adult content.
But the watchdog said the “personal statement” was easy to circumvent and told Reddit it would continue to monitor how the platform handles children’s data.
Reddit said it would appeal the decision.
“Reddit does not require users to share information about their identity, regardless of their age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and security,” the company said in a statement.
“The ICO’s insistence that we collect more private information about every user in the UK is counterintuitive and contradicts our strong belief in the privacy and security of our users online.”
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