Twitter issues warning over prank locking users out of accounts

March 27, 2019

There’s a new prank making its way around Twitter that results in users getting locked out of their accounts. The trick involves getting the Twitter user to change their birth date to 2007 in order to “unlock new color schemes” for their timeline. Well, guess what? There are no new color schemes and you’re now locked out of your account for being under the age of 13.

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Tweets attempting to persuade users into changing their date of birth have received thousands of retweets, quickly spreading the prank across the Twitterverse.

damn changing your birth year to 2007 makes your twitter feed all colourful we been missin out

— 44 (@s_rxii) March 25, 2019

Since its cb season I’m going to be nice to antis. to prove my good intentions I’m going to tell you a secret, if you change your twitter age to 2007 you can get a rainbow mode. Fellow armys please be nice & don’t do it or the glitch will be gone, be considerated.

— ????♚⚕ (@buteracypher) March 25, 2019

Changing your birth year to 2007 will make Twitter think you’re under the age of 13, thus violating their rules and locking you out of your account.

The viral prank has forced the company to release a brief statement via their Support Twitter.

“We’ve noticed a prank trying to get people to change their Twitter birthday in their profile to unlock new color schemes. Please don’t try this. We don’t have different color schemes based on your birthday.”

We’ve noticed a prank trying to get people to change their Twitter birthday in their profile to unlock new color schemes. Please don’t try this. We don’t have different color schemes based on your birthday.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 27, 2019

Unfortunately, it seems that there are quite a few who have fallen victim to the prank. Those that have been locked out of their accounts are asked to follow the instructions sent to their emails following the change in order to get back into their accounts.

What are your thoughts on this viral prank? Sound off in the comments below!