Chuckles.

Any one willing to lie about their age for pretty colors deserves to be given a time out from twitter.

Uh ... is this one of those sociological studies intended to find out how many stupid people there are? How would they measure the results, unless the hoaxers themselves work for Twitter? Is there some sort of extrapolation, where you hypothesize that if X many people publicly report having fallen for it, then X-times-some-large-number also fell for it but were embarrassed to tell anyone?

Besides, why the ### does Twitter's software even allow for established users to change their year of birth? It’s not like entering a new email address or changing privacy settings.

Besides, why the ### does Twitter's software even allow for established users to change their year of birth? It’s not like entering a new email address or changing privacy settings.

Serious answer, methinks it's because of security: Not everyone I know uses their real birth date online, and they may choose to change it.

Stupid answer, vanity. lol

Serious answer, methinks it's because of security: Not everyone I know uses their real birth date online

absolutely, i advise all my family and clients to NOT use their real birth date online and ideally not use their real name on social media and forums.
birth date is a key piece of data required for all kinds of things.

One mod at a nameless forum attempting to collect that kind of the PII demanded to know why I would not fill in the YEAR of my birth. I replied:

"Your entry field does not allow me to say: 'Sometime in the first half of the last century'."