The hoax of the year of birth of Twitter blocks account users

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Twitter warned users to ignore a hoax suggesting that an alternative color scheme would appear in the app if they changed their birth year in 2007.

Instead, users who fall into the scam will be excluded from their account because Twitter prohibits anyone under the age of 13 from using this site.

"Please do not do that," the company said via a tweet.

A spokesman for Twitter refused to confirm to the BBC how many people had succumbed to the hoax so far.

Twitter automatically prevents users under the age of 13 from using the social network since last May and its terms of use state that the social network "is not intended for children".

Within the EU, companies are not allowed to create service contracts with users under the age of 13 without parental consent, in line with the recently adopted General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Twitter said that anyone wrongly blocked on their account could follow the instructions in an email that they should have received from Twitter or fill an online form.

The hoax has been circulating for a few days and a promotional tweet has received nearly 20,000 retweets since its release on Monday.

BBC News found that several users were still posting tweets suggesting that the change of year of birth would activate a new design on the site.

Many seem to have been trapped, although some have remained in good humor about it.

Others, however, expressed dismay at having lost access to their accounts.

In another recent scam, verified Twitter accounts were confiscated by hackers and used to spread fake links offering free bitcoins to users.