Reddit's CEO Said He Didn't Want Your Identity. Now It's Asking for Your ID.

Reddit users are raising privacy concerns after reporting that the platform is asking some people to verify their age by uploading a government-issued ID or taking a selfie.

"I am not doing it. Has this happened to anyone else?" u/zsxcrgrl wrote in Reddit's r/privacy community after being prompted to verify their age with either a government-issued ID or a selfie.

Another commenter replied simply: "They are soft launching it."

As more users joined the discussion, some reported seeing similar prompts, despite living in countries where Reddit had previously introduced age verification to comply with local regulations. "It seems that a lot of us from European countries are experiencing the same thing," the original poster later wrote.

Reddit hasn't announced a broader rollout of age verification, but the reports come as governments around the world increasingly require online platforms to implement stronger age-assurance measures — and just weeks after UK regulators fined Reddit £14.47 million, or around $19 million, after determining the company had unlawfully processed children's personal information between May 2018 and July 2025.

Our testing suggests the rollout isn't uniform

All About Cookies also tested Reddit's signup process using a new account and VPN connections in different European countries. When connected through the UK, Reddit immediately prompted us to verify our age through Persona, a third-party verification platform, using either a government-issued ID or a selfie before we could view NSFW content.

However, when connected through Germany using the same process, the account was created via the standard age-verification method: the honor system.

The differing results suggest Reddit's age-verification system may still vary by country, account type, content category, or rollout stage. All About Cookies reached out to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Users are already trying to limit what they share

The discussions in r/privacy quickly shifted from the existence of age verification itself to its implications for users' personal information.

In a second thread, one Redditor asked how much information on a government-issued ID could be covered while still passing Reddit's verification process. Others debated whether redacting addresses, ID numbers, or other personal details would cause the verification to fail.

“I'm guessing they want to see more than just your birth date because otherwise, it could be faked easily or you could have a censored photo of someone else's ID,” u/InFiveMinutes commented.

Another user, u/RoutineGlittering746, was more skeptical, replying: “Proving it was never about ‘age’ verification. It’s a tracking system.”

Those concerns aren't unique to Reddit. Privacy advocates have long warned that age-verification systems can require users to provide sensitive personal information simply to access legal online content, raising questions about data collection, storage, and security.

While many platforms rely on third-party providers rather than processing identification documents themselves, users are often left uncertain about exactly what information is shared, who receives it, and how long it is retained.

Reddit has faced increasing pressure to strengthen age verification

The apparent expansion comes as Reddit faces growing regulatory scrutiny over its age-assurance practices, particularly in the United Kingdom.

According to UK regulators, Reddit relied primarily on users self-declaring their age when creating an account — a method the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said was easy for children to bypass.

"It's concerning that a company the size of Reddit failed in its legal duty to protect the personal information of UK children," John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, said.

In response, Reddit said it “didn’t require users to share information about their identities, regardless of age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and safety.”

Reddit introduced age verification for UK users on July 8, 2025, to comply with requirements under the UK's Online Safety Act. Under those rules, users who don't verify their age may be restricted from viewing certain adult-oriented subreddits, user profiles, and other content.

Despite those changes, the ICO said it would continue to monitor Reddit's age-assurance measures, while Reddit has said it intends to appeal the regulator's decision.

Reddit CEO once said it doesn't want users' identities

Months before users began discussing the apparent new verification prompts, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, better known by his username "spez," acknowledged that increasing global regulation would require the platform to verify users' ages or humanity in some situations.

In a post titled Humans welcome (bots must wear name tags), Huffman emphasized that Reddit's goal was to verify that someone is a real person — not to learn their identity.

"We are not doing sitewide human verification," Huffman wrote three months ago. "We don't need or want your identity."

He also said Reddit prefers privacy-preserving verification methods whenever possible, including passkeys and third-party biometric services, and described government ID verification as the company's "least preferred" option.

According to Huffman, when Reddit is legally required to use government ID verification in countries such as the UK and Australia, the company designs those systems so Reddit does not receive users' identification information directly or connect it to their Reddit activity.

Instead, Reddit relies on third-party verification providers to confirm a user's age or eligibility while limiting the personal information shared with the platform, according to Huffman's post.

While Huffman's post specifically referenced countries such as the UK and Australia, recent reports from Reddit users suggest prompts may now be appearing more broadly across Europe. Reddit has not confirmed whether the reports reflect a wider rollout, limited testing, or country-specific implementation.

What happens next?

For now, it's unclear whether the recent reports signal a broader rollout of Reddit's age-verification system or a more limited expansion tied to specific countries, content categories, or regulations.

What is clear is that online platforms are facing mounting pressure from governments to implement stronger age-assurance measures, even as users remain wary of handing over sensitive personal information.

That pressure is no longer limited to Europe. In the United States, Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced the SAFE for Kids Act on June 10, 2026, a Senate bill that would require certain websites to verify every visitor's age before granting access. The bill currently targets commercial sites where more than one-third of content meets its definition of sexual material, and more than 25 states have already passed their own versions of the same requirement. A federal standard would nationalize that patchwork.

As those requirements spread to more regions, age verification may become a more common part of using social platforms — including those like Reddit that have long built their reputations on anonymity and pseudonymous participation.

Author Details

Thomas Kent

About the Author

Thomas Kent is a multi-disciplined reporter with over a decade of experience covering online platforms, digital trends, and consumer-facing tech. Tom focuses on digital privacy, data tracking, and user behavior, with a particular interest in how cookies, online surveillance, and platform design shape the modern internet experience. His reporting takes a research-driven, news-focused approach, translating complex technical topics into clear, accessible insights.