Reddit To Use Photo ID To Verify Age of UK Site Users

Reddit introduced new photo ID age verification requirements for visitors to its UK site in order to filter “certain mature content” to users under the age of 18. The new measure came into effect on 14 July in compliance with the UK’s new Online Safety Act, which mandates “robust” age verification on sites that may contain adult content.

In an official statement, Reddit stressed that it has “tried to do this in a way that protects the privacy of UK redditors” by partnering with the third-party talent hiring firm, Persona.

According to this arrangement, Persona will handle the age verification process, whereby users will have to upload a selfie or a photo of their government-issued ID. Importantly, Personal “will not have access to your Reddit data such as the subreddits you visit” and has promised to not retain the photo for more than 7 days.

On the other hand, Reddit will not have access to the uploaded photo and will only retain users’ birth date and verification status so that they don’t have to repeat the process.

As for the content that will be filtered, the OSA has placed restrictions on the following categories:

• Sexually explicit content
• Content that promotes forms of self-harm or ingesting harmful substances
• Content that’s “abusive” or “incites hatred”
• Content that promotes or instructs on how to perform dangerous “stunts”
• Content that perpetuates harmful stereotypes or “body shaming”
• Content that promotes or romanticizes depression, hopelessness, and despair.

Ofcom, the UK’s #1 communications services regulator, will be in charge of overseeing the enforcement of these new rules, which will come into full effect on 25 July. A spokesperson told the BBC, "We expect other companies to follow suit, or face enforcement if they fail to act." It recently agreed on similar age verification measures with prominent adult sites, like Pornhub.

While the aim of the act is to put better safeguards in place to protect vulnerable internet users, it has drawn concerns from privacy/freedom of expression advocates and Big Tech. For example, Apple threatened to terminate its iMessage and FaceTime services in the UK because of it.

Once a bastion of freedom of expression absolutism, Reddit has introduced stricter moderation and community guidelines in recent years. In 2023, Reddit came under pressure to release the information of users accused in a copyright lawsuit.