London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Transgender youth charity Mermaids fined £25K for exposing personal info of trans children & parents online

Transgender youth charity Mermaids fined £25K for exposing personal info of trans children & parents online

Mermaids, a controversial UK charity which helps transgender youth, has been fined £25,000 after it unknowingly exposed nearly 800 pages of personal emails containing the private information of trans children and their parents.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined Mermaids £25,000 (nearly $35,000) for failing to “implement an appropriate level of organisational and technical security to its internal email systems.” The failure, it said, led to emails and documents containing personal information about children and other vulnerable people “being searchable and viewable online by third parties through internet search engine results” – a violation of GDPR laws.

According to the ICO’s penalty notice, the security flaw was discovered in 2019 after a Sunday Times journalist informed one of the parents who had been in contact with Mermaids that their child's current name, birth name, date of birth, and health details, along with the child’s mother's name, telephone number, and employer’s address were freely available online.

Four exposed emails contained details about transgender children under the age of 13 at the time.

The ICO claimed that the leaked data was particularly “sensitive in its context” as “groups supporting transgender rights and people experiencing gender incongruence may be at a higher risk of experiencing prejudice, harassment, physical abuse or hate crime.”

“If someone had accessed the email group online there would have been sufficient available identifying data to potentially ‘out’ the data subject, removing any choice and infringing their privacy,” the penalty notice explained.

The ICO admitted that it was unsure whether any third parties had accessed the data other than the Sunday Times journalist who broke the story.

ICO Director of Investigations Steve Eckersley said in a statement that the “very nature of Mermaids’ work should have compelled the charity to impose stringent safeguards to protect the often vulnerable people it works with,” and that “its failure to do so subjected the very people it was trying to help to potential damage and distress.”

He added that, though charities like Mermaids do “important work,” they should know the importance of safeguarding personal information and “cannot be exempt from the law.”

Responding to the fine, Mermaids said it took “full responsibility” for the data breach and thanked the ICO for “balancing the size of its fine against our need to continue supporting service users.” The charity’s chair of trustees Dr. Belinda Bell said in a statement that it fully accepts “that an honest but significant mistake was made” and that the privacy of its service users is “paramount.”

“We are determined to ensure that Mermaids continues to fulfil its obligations regarding safe data management with the utmost diligence,” Bell said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×