this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026

445 points (98.9% liked)

Technology

81802 readers

4172 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related news or articles.
Be excellent to each other!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

L3s@lemmy.world

enu@lemmy.world

technopagan@lemmy.world

L4s@lemmy.world

L3s@hackingne.ws

445

UK fines Reddit $19 million for using children’s data unlawfully (ico.org.uk)

submitted 10 hours ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 29 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 9 points 3 hours ago

[–] julysfire@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago

Cost of doing business to them. Make fines actually hurt and then maybe something will change.

[–] SirMaple__@lemmy.ca 14 points 6 hours ago

[–] abbiistabbii@piefed.blahaj.zone 36 points 7 hours ago

Oh I'm sorry, which government demanded age checks which made kids give away their data to check their ages? Oh yeah.

[–] lyralycan@sh.itjust.works 82 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (2 children)

As much as I hate Reddit this is just continuation of the UK government steamrolling and destroying the free Internet, ruining the adult experience.

One of the wonders of the Internet was that it was wildly unregulated - if you wanted it and you could disable safesearch you could get it, with the caveat of ISP-enforced content locks on all mobile data subscriptions under the name of a legal child (under 18), workplace and school security and filters, unremovable Safesearch on most search engines etc. Broadband required an adult, who in turn could activate parental controls. I couldnt wait until I turned 18 so I could finally access many sites for porn, news, gaming, forums and anything containing keywords without being blocked. I had a list of proxies for bypassing school filters.

In short there is significant existing protection in place and we know that this is simply more evidence of Orwellian enforcement.

[–] a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

The unregulated internet had literal child porn sites that were available to anyone.

I don't disagree with some of your points but the "wild West" internet shouldn't exist in society.

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

So, the Cyberpolice were never real? 😯

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 42 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (4 children)

/u/Spez (creator of /r/jailbait) should be in the car next to Andrew and on the gallows next to Trumpstein.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 8 points 4 hours ago

It was created by Violentacrez, not spez.

Prior to late 2012, it was possible to make someone a moderator of a subreddit without their consent, which was sometimes done as a joke or harassment. That's why spez was briefly a moderator of r/jailbait.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 18 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not defending the guy but wasn't it that a mod of that subreddit added him as a mod as a joke? I don't think spez created it.

[+] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works -12 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I believe op unless you have proof.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 14 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

It was always the version of events that I've read.

I just did a quick search and found this, a video claiming that he was a mod, but the majority of comments indicate it's not true and that it was debunked.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works -1 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Spez actually owns site where majority of comments stick up for said owner? Sorry man, that ain't proof. Wtf are you sticking up for spez anyway? I don't know anyone sane that would.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 13 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

He was a mod for a while, but not the top mod. Top mod is the creator, unless the creator quits, passing it off to second mod. And he was mod at a time when anyone could be added as a mod without their consent. No need to accept an invite.

It's bad enough that he was happy to let the subreddit exist for as long as it did even after significant on-site pressure to remove it. The same thing he did half a decade later with the_Donald. The fact that it took mainstream media criticism to be willing to take it down should be scathing enough. We don't need to make up bs.

[–] Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Hoffman was a founder of Reddit, he was a part of the very creation of the site. He also had absolute and unlimited access to every bit of data that reddit ever had or created. He was also well known for editing other people's comments for his own amusement and narcissism. He not only could have easily been the creator, but he could have been the very mod who made his other account "a mod as a joke". He definitely could have removed himself as a mod of jb just as easily as any of the other well known edits he did to Reddit. And he definitely had direct and unfettered access to every single photo that was ever uploaded or linked to Reddit, even the ones that were so illegal that even the jailbait mods took them down.
So, the other guys opinion that Hoffman was the head pedo and creator of jailbait is just as valid and verifiable as your opinion that it was a joke that he nothing to do with it.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 2 hours ago

Hoffman was the head pedo and creator of jailbait is just as valid

No, it is not.

your opinion that it was a joke that he nothing to do with it

Not the opinion I expressed.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 9 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Well where's the proof that he created it? I'll happily stand corrected.

I just think that if we're going to attack someone, it's probably a good idea to use facts that are true and not made up (it's likely that op just misremembered the details) otherwise it just puts doubt on any further valid points. I've no interest in defending the guy but I do think we should try and keep our facts straight when we criticise someone.

[–] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 6 points 9 hours ago

I just think that if we're going to attack someone, it's probably a good idea to use facts that are true and not made up

Err .. sir. Do you understand how the internet works? "Facts"? "Truth"? "Not made up"? These are not things a shit poster craves.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Ironically, Huffman doesn't seem to be in the Epstein files. This isn't because he isn't a pedophile-- he very likely is-- but he simply wasn't important enough of a person for them to invite him or even talk about him.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 9 points 8 hours ago

4chan had approximately 10x the users as reddit did in 2011 when Epstein and Poole connected.

But ya fuck u/spez. Even the biggest losers on earth hate u/spez

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

/u/Spez (creator of /r/jailbait)

oh 🫣 I've probably heard that before but I must not have committed it to memory

Well that explains why Reddit was so ridiculously pro-porn and porn-riddled in general.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 15 points 8 hours ago

That's cos it's not true. He was a mod of it for a while, but I've not seen any verification of how long that was, and it was at a time when you could just add someone as a mod without them needing to approve it. But he was definitely not its founder.

He did allow it to stick around until the mainstream media started kicking up a fuss about it. That would be bad enough. We don't need to make shit up.

[–] devolution@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 17 points 10 hours ago

Garbage fine by tyrannical government trying to police what you do online. Stop age verification!

[–] mjr@infosec.pub 7 points 9 hours ago

This seems like one of those cases where you wish both sides could lose. Reddit are up to no good, but lack of identity document demands isn't it.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Not enough. Not nearly.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 9 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

The article says Reddit isn’t protecting the privacy of children while contradicting itself by saying it needs age verification for this…. in reality this leads to user profiling and data breaches.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-faces-backlash-over-age-checks-after-data-breach-exposed-70000-ids/

https://techlore.tech/the-free-speech-grift-how-politicians-tricked-you-into-demanding-surveillance/

[–] Didntdoit71@feddit.online 0 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Good. Bury reddit for protecting the pedophiles in the name of corporate greed.