UK watchdog slaps Reddit with £14.47m penalty over age verification failures

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined Reddit £14.47 million ($19.6M) on February 24, 2026, for failing to implement robust age verification. The regulator found that for years, the platform processed the data of hundreds of thousands of children under 13 without a lawful basis, potentially exposing them to harmful material.

The fine marks a major escalation in the UK's enforcement of the Children’s Code, signalling that "self-declaration" boxes are no longer enough for major social media platforms.

Failure to verify a large number of children

The ICO's investigation concluded that despite Reddit’s own terms of service prohibiting users under 13, the company operated with virtually no technical barriers to entry until mid-2025.

Because Reddit didn't verify ages, it lacked a valid legal ground under UK GDPR to collect and use the personal data of prepubescent children.

While Reddit introduced an age-gate in July 2025, the ICO dismissed it as "easy to bypass." Commissioner John Edwards stated that simply asking a user to type in their birth year is "not enough when children are at risk."

The watchdog also noted that Reddit failed to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) before January 2025, a mandatory requirement for any service likely to be accessed by minors.

Reddit’s defense: Privacy vs surveillance

Reddit has announced it will appeal the decision, framing the fine as an attack on its core philosophy of user anonymity. A Reddit spokesperson argued that the ICO’s demand for "robust" age assurance would force the platform to collect government IDs or biometric data (like face scans) from all UK users.

Reddit claims that being forced to verify identities is "counterintuitive" to its mission of providing a safe, anonymous space for discussion.

The company plans to take the case to a tribunal, a process that could take years. In the meantime, the ICO has placed Reddit’s current age-assurance measures under "active review."

The global regulatory wave

This fine is part of a broader crackdown by the UK and EU on "Big Social." The penalty follows a similar, albeit smaller, fine against MediaLab (owner of Imgur) earlier this month for near-identical failings.

The ICO is working alongside Ofcom, the regulator for the Online Safety Act, to ensure that digital platforms cannot claim "ignorance" regarding the age of their user base.

"Children under 13 had their personal information used in ways they could not understand, consent to, or control," said Commissioner Edwards. "That left them exposed to content they should not have seen. This is unacceptable."