Warning: Don't change your Twitter birthday to 2007
Many things go viral online these days -- funny cat videos, memes, stupid "challenges", and all manner of helpful hints and tips. Something that's doing the rounds at the moment encourages Twitter users to change their birthday to a date in 2007.
This might sound like a strange thing to do, but there is the promise of secret new color schemes or rainbow mode being unlocked to lure people in. There are also claims that changing your birthday will get your account verified and earn you a prestigious blue tick. It is -- of course -- not true, but this is not stopping Twitter users from trying it... and regretting it.
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Anyone with a modicum of common sense will immediately see that there is simply no reason that Twitter would tie color schemes -- and certainly not verification -- to a particular birth year, but people are rolling back the clock regardless. The problem is -- if you perform the arithmetic -- that if you were born in 2007, you would be under 13, and therefore too young to use Twitter. As such, anyone changing their birth date to 2007 or earlier is finding that their account is locked.
Such is the scale of the craze that Twitter has issued a warning about it:
We’ve noticed a prank trying to get people to change their Twitter birthday in their profile to 2007 to unlock new color schemes. Please don’t do this. You’ll get locked out for being under 13 years old.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 26, 2019
In short, it's a prank. It's open to debate whether it's amusing or not, but if you have been foolish enough to fall for the scam, do as Twitter says -- follow the instructions in the email you received after changing your birth date, and you will be able to regain access to your account.
Image credit: asiandelight / Shutterstock