Experts Share: Is Reddit’s Age Verification In The UK A Privacy Risk?

Reddit recently made it a must for UK users to verify their age before they can view content unsuitable for kids. This change began this week, and comes after the Online Safety Act introduced stricter rules for protecting children online. It affects content marked as Not Safe For Work or anything linked to adult themes like alcohol or gambling.

To check a user’s age, Reddit has partnered with Persona who asks for either a selfie or a photo of a government ID to confirm that the user is old enough. As you can remember, Reddit itself says it never sees these images. Persona deletes the images within 7 days. Reddit then saves the user’s birth date and whether they passed the check, so it does not need to ask again.

People under 13 can’t use Reddit at all and those under the required age cannot view restricted content or moderate communities linked to mature topics.

 

What Else Will The Data Help With?

 

According to Reddit’s help documents, age information will also be used to make sure that adverts are suitable. For example, someone under 18 should not see personalised ads about gambling or alcohol. The company has said it does not sell personal data to brokers or outside companies.

Again, Reddit is all for users sharing only what they feel comfortable sharing. Users in countries outside the UK can choose to add a birth date, but it is optional unless their local laws require it.

 

Should Users Worry About Privacy?

 

Reddit says it was built so that people could post and comment without revealing their identity. The company believes this has helped make conversations more honest. This age check does not change that, according to Reddit. Users still do not have to use their real names or link their profiles to real world accounts.

That said, some users may worry that uploading ID photos or selfies, even through a third party, is a step away from Reddit’s original promise. Though Reddit won’t store the images, Persona still processes them briefly. Some may feel this goes against the platform’s long standing preference for anonymity.

Reddit says the process is designed to follow the law while respecting privacy. Users accept this might depend on how much they trust the system and whether they believe their anonymity will stay in tact…

 

 

What Do Experts Say?

 

Experts share whether or not this move with Reddit is a privacy risk…

 

Alex Laurie, Senior Vice President, Ping Identity

 

 

“As a parent, I welcome Reddit’s move. It’s vital and long overdue. For too long, children have had access to some of the most explicit and harmful content and proper age checks are a basic safety measure – just like those in place for alcohol, gambling and cigarettes.

“Yes, people have privacy concerns and there is a debate over whether organisations can be trusted with people’s information, but age verification technology has come a long way. Systems like digital wallets can prove someone’s age without exposing personal data and Reddit’s use of a third-party verifier is the right approach.

“This move is about protecting children. The internet isn’t safe by default and platforms must step up. Reddit’s doing the right thing, now others must follow.”

 

Jarek Sygitowicz, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Authologic

 

 

“Protecting young people from accessing explicit content online has never been a greater concern, with regulators across Europe ramping up efforts to enforce age restrictions on adult sites. But user privacy concerns in response to Reddit’s latest announcement are not wholly misplaced. Using photo uploads of physical IDs as a means of verifying identity is simply not a secure enough method to protect users in today’s online world.

“AI-powered fraud and deepfakes make it all too easy for bad players to steal and manipulate people’s data; for example, by creating AI generated images or videos that impersonate an individual’s ID. We need a more sophisticated approach that supports stronger age verification while protecting user privacy and security. Digital IDs could provide this solution.

“Through the use of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, eIDs can enable users to prove their age, without actually sharing any concrete personal data. This means private information does not have to be stored by online platforms, nor left open to potential thieves or hackers. The move to digital IDs is already happening – with regulation in Europe enforcing their introduction by the end of next year and the UK making its own plans for a national digital ID. But it can’t happen fast enough. We shouldn’t still be asking individuals to scan in paper and plastic IDs to prove their identity. eIDs could keep us all safer online; widespread, coordinated adoption is desperately needed.”

 

Arshad Khalid, Technology Advisor, No Strings Public Relations

 

 

“Age verification can be a double-edged sword when it comes to user privacy. On one hand, it helps platforms like Reddit create safer spaces by keeping adult content away from younger users, which is an important step in responsible platform management. But the way verification is handled matters a lot. If it’s done through anonymous or third-party methods that don’t retain personal data, the privacy risk is fairly low.

“The concern comes when platforms start collecting or storing sensitive ID information themselves. That creates a potential target for data breaches and raises questions about how securely that data is handled, who has access to it, and whether it could be used for tracking or profiling later on. So while the goal of age gating makes sense, users have every right to ask how their information is being managed behind the scenes. Done carefully, it can be a privacy-neutral move, but transparency is key.”