A message has begun going viral on Twitter, letting users in on a little secret.
If they change their birthday on the platform to 2007, their tweets start showing up in individual colours. How cool is that?! Not all, it's not cool. Trust me, this is a prank you don't want to fall for.
This particular prank has been going viral this past week, partly because it's maybe kinda believable, and so easy to fake. And so many people are falling for it because it doesn't take a lot to try out for yourself. Based on the tweets you see, it promises everything from rainbow colours, to verified badges, to Modi icons, and more.
Unfortunately for those of you gullible enough to have already fallen for this, the result can really hurt. You see, when you're changing your birthday on Twitter to 2007, you're not changing a display date.. What you're doing is letting Twitter know that you're 12 years old or, more importantly, one year shy of being allowed to use the platform.
Twitter has always required that its users be at least 13 years old. Then after GDPR came into play, that restriction became even more prominent. Part of the laws involve protecting minors from data gathering, so Twitter has just automated the ban process if the birthday you enter is below its restriction.
In fact, the prank has been such a success that even Twitter Support has had to officially tweet a warning about it. Luckily, if you've already been banned for this, all is not lost. You could go ahead and make a different Twitter account of course, but there's a better way. Instead, just contact Twitter Support with your complaint, and they'll ask you to submit a copy of your government-issued ID.
But hey, at least now you know Twitter only comes in regular and night mode.