Reddit fined $18,000,000 for 'unlawfully using childrens personal information'
'They must do better'
Reddit has been fined $18 million for 'unlawfully using children's personal information' in a new lawsuit.
Social media platforms have increasingly found themselves in regulators' crosshairs and lawsuits in recent years. Last year, Apple and Meta faced combined fines totalling $798 million after breaking newly established EU competition laws. More recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a jury after lawyers claimed that social media is deliberately designed to be addictive.
Now, Reddit is being hit with a £14 million ($18 million) fine from the UK's data watchdog.
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The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said the social media giant failed to properly verify users' ages, potentially exposing children to inappropriate and harmful content online.
According to the BBC, Reddit stated that it 'didn't require users to share information about their identities, regardless of age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and safety.'
"It's concerning that a company the size of Reddit failed in its legal duty to protect the personal information of UK children," John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner told the BBC. "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."
Reddit introduced age-verification measures in July 2025 to comply with the Online Safety Act. However, the ICO said the platform still posed risks to younger audiences as their measures were 'easy to bypass.'
Moreover, while Reddit's terms of service prohibited users under 13, its estimates suggested 'there were a large number of children under 13 on the platform.'
The regulator added that companies likely to have younger users have a responsibility to protect them, including ensuring that their data is collected and not exposed to risks.
The ICO launched its investigation last March, alongside TikTok and Imgur, over similar concerns, and concluded that Reddit processed children's data without lawful authorisation and 'must do better' as a company with responsibilities.
UK law requires companies to take additional measures when handling data from child users, who may not fully understand the risks of platforms collecting their information.
"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," a spokesperson for Reddit said.
Social media expert Matt Navarra also told the BBC: "Reddit is being treated less like a quirky forum site and more like what it is - a social platform with major platform responsibilities."
Reddit intends to appeal the decision and claims that the vast majority of its users are adults.