Can you change your birthday or age on your Twitter profile? Many users signed up when they were younger and now want to update their age for accuracy or access features like age-gated content.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll cover everything you need to know can you change your age on Twitter?
By the end of this guide, you’ll understand how to change your age on Twitter, along with key factors to consider before doing so. Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
How Twitter Uses Your Birthday for Age Calculations
First, it’s helpful to understand how Twitter utilizes your birthday behind the scenes to determine your age for different features and services:
- Account Creation: Providing your valid birthday upon sign-up is required to create a Twitter account. This initial birthday sticks with your account.
- Age Calculation: Twitter uses your birthday to calculate your current age in real-time. Your age updates every year as your birthday passes.
- Age-Gated Content: Certain sensitive media require you to be over 18 or 21. Twitter checks your age against these thresholds.
- Ad Targeting: Birthday and age can inform the relevance of ads served. Age demographics may determine eligibility for some promoted campaigns.
- Account Security: Significant age changes can be signals for account compromise to Twitter’s systems.
In summary, your birthday is linked to age calculations and age-based features. With that context, let’s look at how to change your birthday within your account settings.
Step-by-Step Guide to Changing Your Birthday on Twitter
If you signed up with the wrong birthday or want your profile age to reflect your real age, you can change your birthday in your Twitter settings:
On Mobile:
- Tap your profile icon in the top left of the Home tab.
- Tap Settings and Privacy.
- Tap Account.
- Tap Edit birthday.
- Input your new date of birth.
- Tap Save changes at the bottom.
On Desktop:
- Click More on the left sidebar.
- Click Settings and Privacy.
- Click Account.
- Click Edit Birthday.
- Select your new birthday date and year.
- Click Save Changes at the bottom.
And that’s it! Twitter will now use your updated birthday for all age-related calculations and features.
Next, let’s look at what happens when you change your age on Twitter in more detail.
What Happens When You Change Your Age on Twitter?
Once you save your new birthday through the steps above, here are some of the key changes that will occur:
- Profile Age Update: Your profile will immediately reflect your updated age based on your new birthday.
- Unlocks Age-Gated Content: If your updated age meets age minimums, you may newly access age-restricted media.
- Resets Advertising Demographics: Ad targeting may shift based on your new age demographic info.
- Triggers Age Verification: Significant age decreases can trigger ID verification prompts.
- Requires Re-entering Birthday: Further age-gated access may require re-entering your new birthday.
- Reviews Age Authenticity: Twitter systems may flag large age gaps for internal review to confirm authenticity.
- Impacts Legal Obligations: Accurate birthday info ensures compliance with laws like COPPA for underage users.
So, in summary, the change cascades through any systems that rely on age calculations from your birthday. Let’s now look at some key limitations and risks to be aware of when changing your age.
Also read: Why Can’t I Change My Twitter Birthday?
Limitations and Risks of Change Your Age on Twitter
While you can update your birthday, there are some limitations and risks to consider:
- Can Only Change Once Per Year – Twitter only allows changing your birthday once every 12 months as a precaution.
- May Require ID Verification – Significantly decreasing your age can trigger identity verification asks from Twitter.
- Cause Account Lockouts – Drastic age changes may risk temporary account locks during an authenticity review.
- Break Compliance on Age Minimums – Increasing your age to unlock restricted content that you are still technically underage for can lead to penalties.
- Influence Ads & Recommendations – Age demographics impact the relevance of promoted content and recommendations you’ll see.
- Require Re-entry for Verification – Twitter may ask you to re-confirm your new birthday when accessing age-gated material.
The main takeaway is that while you can update your age, significant shifts or repeatedly changing your birthday comes with risks – so tweak carefully.
Next, let’s look at Twitter’s official policies around age requirements and age-gated content.
Twitter’s Policies on Age Requirements and Age-Gated Content
If you’re hoping to change your Twitter age to access age-restricted material, it’s important to understand Twitter’s policies:
Minimum Age of 13 to Have a Twitter Account
- Twitter’s Terms of Service require users to be at least 13 years old to create an account. This is based on COPPA compliance laws.
Adult Content Permitted With Age Gates
- Twitter allows some adult and sensitive content behind age gates requiring 18+/21+ ages verified by birthday entry.
Violating Age Minimums Risks Account Suspension
- Attempting to access age-gated material when under the minimum age can lead to account locks and permanent suspension.
Age Verification May Require Confirming ID Documents
- In some cases, Twitter may require uploading official ID documents to prove your age if discrepancy flags arise or attempting to view 18+/21+ content.
In summary, Twitter’s policies are designed to create age-appropriate experiences and ensure legal compliance. Circumventing age gates places your account at risk.
Now, let’s look at some recent updates related to Twitter’s handling of underage and younger teen users on the platform.
Latest Updates to Twitter’s Policies on Underage Users
As public and regulatory pressures around youth safety on social platforms continue, Twitter has made several recent changes related to their underage user policies:
- Removed Direct Messaging for Under 16s – In early 2022, Twitter removed the ability for accounts aged 13-15 to send/receive DMs as a safety measure.
- Prompting Birthdate Re-Entry – Through 2022, Twitter began proactively prompting users aged 13-17 to re-confirm their birthdate to verify their age.
- Developing Guardrails for Younger Teens – Twitter announced plans to build new safety features and guardrails specifically designed for 13-15-year-old user experiences.
- Improved Age Verification Processes – Twitter has enhanced its detection of underage account sign-ups and prompts for age verification when risk is detected.
In summary, Twitter is taking increased measures around minor safety – impacting those who may try to change their age and birthday settings on the platform inaccurately.
Now, let’s wrap up with some tips for smoothly updating your age on Twitter.
Tips for Changing Your Age on Twitter Without Issues
Here are some top tips to help ensure changing your Twitter age and birthday goes smoothly:
- Stick to your real, legal date of birth rather than unrealistic ages. This helps avoid issues.
- Make small incremental changes if your original birthday needs to be revised. Drastic shifts raise flags.
- Only change your birthday once yearly at most. Frequent changes look suspicious.
- If asked, be prepared to provide an official ID to verify your age. Lying risks suspension.
- Only attempt to access 18+/21+ content once you’re legally of age. Pretending to be older leads to trouble.
- Consider starting fresh with a new account if your current profile has longstanding age inaccuracies that need to be fixed.
- Ensure your birthday aligns across all linked social profiles for consistency if required for verification.
- Check Twitter’s updated underage user policies if you signed up as a teen – restrictions are tightening.
Being thoughtful and truthful when updating your age information keeps your account secure and in good standing.
Conclusion
This comprehensive guide covered everything you need to know about changing your birthday and age on your Twitter profile! The key takeaways are:
- You can edit your birthday in account settings once per year, affecting your calculated age.
- This grants access to age-gated content when you reach eligibility thresholds.
- However, substantively decreasing your age risks verification requests or other issues.
- Twitter is also restricting underage experiences for safety, so deceiving age won’t work.
Let me know if you have any other questions!