Reddit has been penalized £14.47 million ($19.5 million) for mishandling children's personal data, as determined by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The platform's failure to properly verify users' ages violated the UK’s Online Safety Act, leading to potential exposure of minors to harmful content. The investigation revealed that Reddit utilized a third-party company, Persona, for age verification, which proved inadequate in distinguishing between adult and child users.
In a similar situation, Discord faced backlash from its user base due to its association with Persona, which also accesses government records for verification. Users criticized Discord for not being transparent about their data handling practices. The company has since confirmed that it conducted a limited trial with Persona in the UK, but this testing phase has concluded, and it no longer employs the service.
As concerns over age verification grow, there are increasing demands for Apple and Google to assume legal responsibility for ensuring that users are appropriately age-gated when downloading apps. This requirement is already enforced in certain states across the United States.