Reddit was built on the principle that you shouldn’t need to share personal information to participate in meaningful discussions. Unlike platforms that are identity-based and cater to the famous (or those that want to become famous), Reddit has always favored upvoting great posts and comments by people who use whimsical usernames and not their real name. These conversations are often more candid and real than those that force you to share your real-world identity.
However, while we still don’t want to know who you are on Reddit, there are certainly situations where it would be helpful if we knew a little more about you. For example, in the new age of AI, we would like to be able to confirm whether you are a human being or not (more to come about that later). And it would be helpful for our safety efforts to be able to confirm whether you are a child or an adult. Also, there are a growing number of jurisdictions that have considered or have passed laws requiring platforms to verify the ages of their users.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditSafety/comments/1lzt65t/verifying_the_age_but_not_the_identity_of_uk/