Should you lie about your age when creating a social media account?

Many social media platforms require you to be of a certain age when you sign up. They ask for your name, email address and also your exact date of birth. If you’ve wondered why they do this, there are a few reasons to consider.

While it’s a pleasant surprise to wake up on your birthday and get lots of well-wishes on your feed, sharing your personal information can sometimes expose you to online threats. We will see what happens when you use your real birthday when creating a social network account.

Social platforms like Instagram require you to add your birthday when signing up. They claim age verification is in place to protect teens from online creeps. While that’s a valid reason, there are other reasons why social platforms want your birthday.

In many cases, social platforms use your birthday for various purposes. They show you personalized content, run ads, and greet you on your birthday. They can also censor content that might be disturbing or offensive to your age group.

In cases where a person is 14, there may be tighter restrictions from advertisers on what they can show them. Children’s advertising laws include things like social media platforms are not allowed to show underage users ads containing alcohol.

Many teenagers nowadays lie about their age to gain access to a social media platform. For underage children, it is easy to get on a platform just by adding a few extra years to their birth age.

But it is not the only reason. For security-conscious people, lying about their age is a strategic move to protect themselves from online scams.

What can scammers do with your birthday?

Scammers have gotten more advanced over the years, and while providing your full birthday, month, and year to a social media platform seems like an innocent move, you could be exposing yourself to a variety of attacks.

If a scammer has your birthday and other personal information, they may try to scam you, your friends and family by pretending to be you. They can also commit online fraud and access financial accounts.

In some cases, they may use your private information to open utility accounts or gain access to other parts of your life. In serious cases, they could use your information to open bank accounts and steal your credit information.

Depending on your country’s format for identification documents, your date of birth may also be part of your identification number.

If a social media platform asks you to enter your exact date of birth and you don’t mind it, be careful. If the reason you want to provide your birthday is to get birthday wishes, use the date but not the year. This will already put you in a safer place than providing your exact information.

However, we do not recommend that you lie about your age to gain access to a platform for which you are too young. Or using a date of birth to mislead a social media platform as to whether you are an adult or a minor.

Also be aware on other platforms

No matter what you sign up for, you should always ask yourself if it is absolutely necessary to provide your exact information such as your date of birth. For online banking and credit cards, you might not have a choice, but for subscriptions and social media apps, you should think twice.

Sometimes the less you provide about yourself online, the better. Always make sure that the sites and services you sign up for are as secure as possible.