Reddit fined nearly $20 million by UK online privacy regulator for 'using children’s data unlawfully, potentially exposing them to inappropriate and harmful content'

BATH, UNITED KINGDOM - DECEMBER 23: In this photo illustration a 13-year-old teenage boy looks at an iPhone screen displaying various social media apps on December 23, 2025 in Bath, England. Recently the Australian Senate passed a law to ban children under 16 from having social media accounts and social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram potentially being be fined for preventing children younger than 16 from having social media accounts. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images).

The Information Commissioner's Office, a regulatory body charged with regulating and enforcing online privacy matters in the UK, has fined Reddit £14.5 million ($19.6 million) after an investigation found that the platform had "failed to apply any robust age assurance mechanism and therefore did not have a lawful basis for processing the personal information of children under the age of 13." Reddit says it will appeal the ruling.

Reddit "failed to carry out a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) to assess and mitigate risks to children before January 2025," ICO said in a press release (via Ars Technica). "These failures meant Reddit was using children’s data unlawfully, potentially exposing them to inappropriate and harmful content."