Former Twitter users around the web are speaking up, because Twitter is locking accounts for being underage.
Worst of all, this issue is affecting people who are old enough to use the platform, but are facing restrictions anyway.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to get your account back.
In this article, we’ll learn what to do if Twitter locked your account because of your age, and how you can regain access to your account quickly.
What’s Caused Twitter To Lock Accounts?
Twitter is required by law to block registration to people under the age of 13. Due to the way that their service operates, allowing registrations from people under the age of 13 would cause more legal issues than its worth.
Therefore, their terms of service prevent people from registering an account if they’re under the age of 13.
The problem was, this caused an issue with people who lied about their age before this rule was more heavily enforced – causing people who are even now legal adults to have their Twitter accounts locked. It also affected people who changed their birthday within Twitter’s settings.
For example, if you are 18 years old now, but published a tweet over 5 years ago (when you were under the age of 13), this could trigger an automatic account suspension resulting in you being unable to use your account – even if you are above the age of 13 now!
This was a big problem, and affected a large number of Twitter users. You can read more about it through an official statement by Twitter here:
There have been questions and concerns about accounts being locked because of age restrictions. We wanted to let you know what happened here, and what we’re doing about it. 1/6
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 12, 2018
Unfortunately, age related issues are still affecting accounts to this day, which may have been what led you to this article.
What Is The Age Limit For Twitter?
Twitter requires all users to be above the age of 13 when creating an account, in order to remain compliant with their terms of service. Additionally, some countries require parental consent to register for a Twitter account if the user has not yet reached the age of majority in their area. The form to give parental consent can be found here.
Note that even if you have your parent’s consent, you still must be at least 13 to use Twitter. If it has been discovered that you’re under the age of 13, your Twitter account may be locked until you meet the legal requirements to register an account.
According to Twitter, if you signed up before the age of 13 but have since met the age requirement, you may be able to regain access to your account by permanently deleting all of the old data that was generated before you were old enough to use the service.
How To Get Your Twitter Account Unlocked, When It Was Locked Due To Age
Fortunately, Twitter has a process in place to deal with accounts that have been wrongly locked.
When you attempt to login to Twitter, you’ll receive a notice stating that your account was locked, along with the reason. You will also be prevented from interacting with the platform in any meaningful way.
Based on the specific reason given, the exact instructions for what to do next can vary.
Most of the time, Twitter simply asks you fill out a form and submit a picture of your legal ID, that shows your birth date.
Once you do so, the account is typically unlocked quite quickly.
One major problem however is that if your government ID proves that you did in fact operate the account while under the age of 13, this can be further grounds to keep your account locked. While Twitter has suggested that deleting all of your content while under the age of 13 may help, it’s unknown how often they unlock accounts that match this criteria – or whether they have any system in place to delete that data automatically.
According to locked messages people have posted online, it does appear that you’ll have the option to allow Twitter to delete non-compliant data on your behalf. Unfortunately, there is unlikely any way to recover this information.
In the instance that they refuse to unlock your account, then it’s recommend you simply create a brand new account with your proper birth date, now that you’re over the age of 13.
Age-Based Twitter Locks – Frequently Asked Questions
Having your Twitter account locked can be a stressful and worrying experience. Let’s look over some of the most commonly asked questions regarding accounts that have been locked due to age.
Are Locked Twitter Accounts Deleted?
No. Locked Twitter accounts are still active, and can be used if you follow the necessary steps to get the account unlocked.
All of the data previously associated with the account will still be there. However, you may need to delete tweets that were published while under the age of 13.
Do You Lose Followers If Your Twitter Account Is Locked?
No. You will retain all of your followers, even if your account is locked and unlocked again.
However, some users report a small follower decrease after your account is unlocked. This is because some people use tools that automatically unfollow people that unfollow them.
Shortly after your account is unlocked, your Twitter page will show you having 0 followers, and following 0 people. This is a temporary bug and your full follower and following count should reappear within a few hours.
However, this is long enough to trick tools into thinking you’ve unfollowed someone, thus resulting in you being automatically unfollowed as well.
Thankfully, this should only affect a small percentage of your followers.
How Long Does It Take To Get Unlocked?
Reports online suggest that it can take as little as a few hours, to as long as a few days for Twitter to unlock your account after submitting all of the necessary information.
However in some cases, unlocking your account can take weeks or longer.
It simply depends on how busy Twitter’s support team is, and how many other people are experiencing similar issues.
Spamming their support staff is unlikely to increase the speed in which your unlock is processed.
Conclusion
Discovering that your Twitter account has been locked is a frustrating experience – especially when it’s through no fault of your own.
Twitter requires all of their users to be above the age of 13. If at any point you used Twitter while under 13, you run the risk of an account lock.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about Twitter, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister
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