Opt-in Twitter feature allows brands to restrict age of (honest) Followers

Alcohol brands, breweries and mature content of all types online needs barriers put in place to ensure innocent eyes aren't looking. Many age-restricted websites already have processes in place to ascertain the age of their users.

Buddy Media and Twitter have come together to create a new opt-in feature that enables brands with adult content to prevent under-age Twitter users from following their account.

It works by sending out a Direct Message to users when they try to Follow a brand that requires age verification. It simply asks the user to confirm their date of birth. It's like a blind bartender asking to see your I.D., you can hand over anyone's I.D. and they'd be none the wiser.

In fact, apart from the brands themselves being able to say they've played ball and asked for age verification, the process is fairly useless as the process relies entirely on the user entering their correct date of birth, there are no checks done to verify this.

Brands wishing to use the age screening feature can sign up to get approval here.

Tags: age restricition, age verification, alcohol brands, mature content, minors, Twitter