Attempts to comply with GDPR is having some interesting effects.
Jordan Pearson reports:
Since the European Union’s new data privacy laws—the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR—came into effect last week, a ton of people have complained that their Twitter accounts were suspended because Twitter seems to believe they are under the age of 13, even though they’re not.
According to Twitter, the company is opting to ban anyone whose date of birth—whether it was provided at the time of sign up or later—indicates they were under the age of 13 when they signed up for the service.
Read more on Motherboard.
Over on Fortune, Lisa Marie Segarra expands on the coverage, reporting:
However, Twitter’s message to banned users reportedly reads, “in order to create a Twitter account, you must be at least 13 years old,” and, “you don’t meet these age requirements.” This message appeared for Yun, who is, of course, above the age of 13.
While Twitter has always required its users to be 13 years old or older, new GDPR rules add further protection for internet users under the age of 13. With the new regulations, Twitter cannot legally keep content that was posted by a user when they were under the age of 13 on its site.
So what COPPA didn’t accomplish, GDPR may? Read more on Fortune.