UK ICO Fines Reddit £14.5M for Child Data Failures

The United Kingdom===Information Commissioner s Office (ICO) in the United Kingdom has fined Reddit £14.5 million ($19.5 million) for failing to lawfully process children's personal information and not implementing robust age assurance mechanisms. The ICO's investigation found that Reddit did not have measures in place to check users' ages until July 2025, despite prohibiting users under 13. This failure potentially exposed children to inappropriate content. John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, criticized Reddit for not meeting its legal duties. Reddit plans to appeal the decision, arguing that the ICO's demands for more private information collection are counterintuitive to user privacy. The ICO is continuing to review Reddit's age assurance controls and is focusing on platforms that primarily rely on self-declaration for age verification. This action is part of a wider ICO intervention to improve children's online safety, following similar actions against MediaLab (owner of MediaLab===Imgur) and investigations into ByteDance===TikTok. The United Kingdom government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is also advancing efforts to protect children online, including a consultation on a social media ban for those under 16.