The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Reddit £14.47 million, more than $19.5 million, for collecting and using personal data from children under 13 without proper safeguards.
In a statement released Tuesday, the ICO said Reddit failed to put in place a meaningful age verification system until July 2025, even though its terms of service have long prohibited users under 13. Regulators believe a significant number of children were using the platform before that date, meaning Reddit processed their data without a lawful basis and may have exposed them to harmful content.
Reddit introduced age assurance measures in July 2025, including age checks for mature content and a self-declaration prompt for new users. However, the ICO said these steps did not meet UK data protection standards and were too easy for children to bypass.
UK Information Commissioner John Edwards said it was unacceptable that a company of Reddit’s size failed to properly protect children’s personal information. He warned that relying on users to declare their own age is not sufficient when children may be at risk and urged companies to review and strengthen their practices.
Reddit has said it plans to appeal the decision. In a statement, a company spokesperson said most Reddit users in the UK are adults, based on external market research. The spokesperson added that Reddit does not require users to share identity information because it prioritizes privacy and safety, and argued that the ICO’s position would require collecting more private data from UK users.
Reddit reports 121 million daily active users and more than 471 million weekly active users across over 100,000 communities. The fine comes shortly after the ICO issued a similar penalty to MediaLab, the owner of Imgur, for children’s privacy violations.
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