Reddit has been fined more than £14m over claims it failed to protect the children who use its platform.
The UK’s data watchdog said that it had failed to properly protect the personal information of the young people on its platform.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the failings meant children had potentially been exposed to inappropriate and harmful content.
The watchdog’s investigation found that Reddit had failed to check the age of users on its platform, which put children at risk.
It said the platform did not 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”.
The ICO warned Reddit that relying on users to declare their age had posed risks to children “as it is easy to bypass”.
UK information commissioner John Edwards said: “It’s concerning that a company the size of Reddit failed in its legal duty to protect the personal information of UK children. Children under 13 had their personal information collected and used in ways they could not understand, consent to or control.
“That left them potentially exposed to content they should not have seen. This is unacceptable and has resulted in today’s fine. Let me be clear.
“Companies operating online services likely to be accessed by children have a responsibility to protect those children by ensuring they’re not exposed to risks through the way their data is used.
“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.
“They must do better and we are continuing to consider the age assurance controls now implemented by the platform.
“Relying on users to declare their age themselves is not enough when children may be at risk and we are focusing now on companies that are primarily using this method.
“I therefore strongly encourage industry to take note, reflect on their practices and urgently make any necessary improvements to their platforms.”
Reddit said that it was planning to appeal the decision, that it does verify the age of people who are accessing adult content, and that the vast majority of its users are adults anyway.
“Reddit doesn’t require users to share information about their identities, regardless of age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and safety,” a spokesperson said. “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. We intend to appeal the ICO’s decision.”
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