New Twitter Terms of Service Bars Anyone Under the Age of 18   - 940 Views, 1 Comment

In the updated Terms of Service, Twitter state that:

You may use the Services only if you can form a binding contract with Twitter and are not a person barred from receiving services under the laws of the United States or other applicable jurisdiction. You may use the Services only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations.

Now, as it happens, in contract law, minors (persons under the age of 18) are generally considered to “lack the capacity” to contract (along with those who are legally deemed mentally challenged). This means that a minor - anyone 17 or younger, unless legally emancipated - are unable to form a binding contract.

Hence, Twitter is now off limits to anyone under the age of 18.

This is a marked change from Twitter’s previous terms of service, which stated:

You must be 13 years or older to use this site.

Why has Twitter chosen to exclude those under 18? They haven’t said, but we can hazard a couple of guesses:

1. It’s harder to hold someone under 18 legally accountable for their actions.

2. Generally people who are using Twitter to any great degree are over 18 anyways, and so it isn’t any sweat off Twitter’s nose to exclude the minority of Twitter users who are under 18.

3. The 18-and-above group is where the money potential is.

Of course, it could also be the case that they didn’t mean to exclude, based on age, users who previously were considered acceptable, but we’re betting that even if this is the case, they won’t re-opening the door for those users.