The
UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined Reddit £14.47 million (over $19.5 million) for collecting and using the personal information of children under 13 without adequate safeguards.
As the ICO explained in a Tuesday press release,
Reddit failed to implement a meaningful age-verification system on its platform until July 2025, even though its own terms of service prohibited users under 13.
The data protection regulator also estimates that a significant number of underage children were using the social media platform before July 2025 and that Reddit processed their data without a lawful basis and
potentially exposed them to harmful content.
"
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 spokesperson added. "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. We intend to appeal the ICO's decision."
The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined Reddit £14.47 million (over $19.5 million) for collecting and using the personal information of children under 13 without adequate safeguards.
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