The UK data watchdog has fined Reddit £14.47 million because the company was illegally processing the personal data of children.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) indicated that the site did not adequately verify the age of its users, which exposed children who used Reddit to the exposure of unsuitable and damaging information on the internet.

⚖️ Reddit Fined £14M for ‘Concerning’ Child Age Check Failings in the UK
Reddit has been fined £14 million ($18.6 million) by the UK’s media regulator Ofcom for failing to properly prevent under-13s from accessing harmful content on its platform. The investigation revealed that… pic.twitter.com/I5wSX8xWm9

— opdev (@opdev_tech) February 24, 2026

“It is worrying that a corporation as big as Reddit did not succeed in its legal obligations to safeguard the personal data of children in the UK,” as stated by John Edwards, the Information Commissioner of the UK.

Reddit, in a statement, said, “it did not need the users to provide any information about their identities, at whatever age, since it is highly committed to their privacy and safety.”

The ICO indicated that the fine was imposed on the basis of such failures occurring between 5 May 2018 and 8 July 2025, when it claimed that Reddit was unlawfully processing the personal data of children aged below 13.

The regulator stated that online services by companies that were likely to be accessed by children were obligated to protect them, and that this required them to ensure that the manner in which their data was collected and utilised did not expose them to any dangers.

“In order to do so,” said Edwards, “they must be assured that they know the age of their users and that they have proper and effective age assurance measures.”

“These expectations were not fulfilled by Reddit.”

On 8 July 2025, Reddit began age verification of its users to meet the demands of the Online Safety Act (OSA).

However, the ICO stated that the platform worked based on requiring users to state their age upon creating an account, which the platform claimed was easy to evade, hence it would remain vigilant.

The ICO began inquiring into the platform first in March, with TikTok and image-sharing site Imgur, on the grounds of children using their data.

On Tuesday, the regulator reported that, though the Terms of Service on Reddit stated that “children under 13 years should not visit the platform, its estimates indicated that there were many children under 13 on the site.”

The regulator also found that the platform, through the result, had handled children’s data without a legitimate reason to do so.

In the UK, companies should exercise greater precaution and caution when collecting data of child users, as they might be less aware of the risks that might arise with platforms collecting and using their data.

The ICO declared that Reddit needs to do better, and it was still deliberating the age assurance controls, which it had since introduced.

A spokesperson of Reddit explained: “The claims of ICO that we should gather more personal data about each UK user are counterintuitive and contrary to our belief in the privacy and safety of our users on the web.”

They further stated that the company would appeal the decision.

Growth and scrutiny

The last few years have experienced a boom in growth in the UK, with Reddit being the 12th most widespread site in the UK and the fourth most widespread social media platform in 2025, according to Ofcom.

In July 2025, when OSA age verification capabilities were enforced, the platform restricted the access of users who had not verified their age to areas of its services, such as some of their user profiles and subreddits, which were hosting adult content.

The ICO advised that it would remain in close collaboration with Ofcom, which implements the OSA with the aim of organising the efforts to protect children and their information on the Internet.

Ofcom has recently levied fines on various porn site providers that it discovered failed to ensure that they had proper age checks to prevent children from having access to adult content.

It fined on Monday its biggest fine imposed under the OSA so far.

Social media analyst Matt Navarra told the BBC that the recent moves by the two organisations signified the UK’s two-regulator pincer movement that is taking effect.

He said: “On the one hand, it is the ICO ensuring that children’s data and design expectations are driven, and, on the other, that the larger online safety laws in the UK are driving the industry to real age assurance as a standard.”

The Reddit fine that Navarra added was also a turning point in the way it was perceived and examined by the regulators.

“Reddit is not being perceived necessarily as a forum site that is quirky anymore, but the way it is and should be viewed is as a social platform with significant platform responsibilities.”