Reddit starts verifying ages of users in the UK
Ofcom, the UK regulator, said: "We expect other companies to follow suit, or face enforcement if they fail to act."
Reddit, known for its online communities and discussions, said that while it does not want to know who its audience is: "It would be helpful for our safety efforts to be able to confirm whether you are a child or an adult."
The social media platform is bringing in the measures to comply with new rules under the UK's Online Safety Act which require sites that show adult material to introduce "robust" age checking techniques.
Reddit has announced it is introducing age verification on its UK site from Monday to stop people aged under 18 from looking at "certain mature content".
Reddit said that from 14 July, an outside firm called Persona will perform age verification for the social media platform either through an uploaded selfie or "a photo of your government ID", such as a passport.
It said Reddit will not have access to the photo and will only retain a user's verification status and date of birth so people do not have to re-enter it each time they try to access restricted content.
Reddit added that Persona "promises not to retain the picture for longer than seven days" and will not have access to a user's data on the site.
The new rules in the UK come into force on 25 July.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said: "Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling.
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