

Ask HN: Is it illegal to require users to be under a certain age? - adventured

Many sites require that users be over a certain age, for example Facebook requires users to be at least 13, most dating sites require users to be legal adults, as do most porn sites. It&#x27;s obvious why that&#x27;s all considered perfectly legal and reasonable.<p>Is it legal to require users to be <i>under</i> a certain age (eg 30)? Does anyone have personal experience with this, or know of any sites with such requirements? My concern is an age discrimination lawsuit. I&#x27;ve been building web businesses since the mid 1990s, but I honestly have never run across this issue before, and I suspect it&#x27;s a murky area legally; as in, it&#x27;s not technically illegal, but someone could definitely sue you for age discrimination and have a case, but that doesn&#x27;t mean someone will ever bother to do so.
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anigbrowl
Not a lawyer, but FWIW: if it's employment-related, tread very carefullyYou
could specify that a potential employee must be 'in touch with what's new and
hip' but it's risky to say that you won't hire anyone over 30 (as well as
maybe unwise). If you're looking to hand out scholarships or somesuch, it's
probably much less of an issue. If you want to make Logansrun.com* where
everyone has to be under 30 to join up and waste time on your social network,
you're probably safe, as old and middle-aged people are not a protected class
that I'm aware of.

* Of course being able to reference Logan's Run dates me as over 40.

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random_us3rnam3
Disney's Club Penguin is an example of a site with implicit maximum age
restrictions.

Per the "How do I become a member?" FAQ [1]:

"It's very simple to become a Club Penguin member. Before you purchase a
membership, you'll need to ask an adult for their permission.

"Once you have an adult's permission, visit our Membership page together to
add a membership to your penguin account. "

[1] [http://www.clubpenguin.com/help/help-
topics/membership/how-d...](http://www.clubpenguin.com/help/help-
topics/membership/how-do-i-become-member)

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dragonwriter
> As in, it's not technically illegal, but someone could definitely sue you
> for age discrimination and have a case

Did you just say that age discrimination both is and is not illegal?

~~~
adventured
That's sort of correct. There's nothing inherently illegal about
discrimination: it just means to recognize a distinction between. Most types
of discrimination are legal. Work places always discriminate when they pick
the best candidate.

There are many instances in which age discrimination is not illegal (I listed
three examples in the post). Facebook is a massive age discriminator for
example, and it's entirely legal; ditto porn sites. American drinking laws age
discriminate against 20 year olds (so every liquor store is an age
discriminator).

Sometimes age discrimination is considered illegal, and sometimes it is not.

My question was whether it's illegal to require users to be under the age of
30. I plan to age discriminate against people of certain ages (under 18, over
30).

~~~
dragonwriter
> My question was whether it's illegal to require users to be under the age of
> 30.

I was referring to your statement that you believed that it was: 1\.
Technically not illegal to do so, and 2\. That if you did so, someone would
"be able to sue for age discrimination and have a good case".

You seemed to believe both sides on the illegality issue not just of age
discrimination in a broad sense, but of the specific act.

~~~
adventured
Obviously you can be sued for things that aren't technically illegal, and you
can lose due to a sympathetic jury. I'm not _certain_ on the legality of this
context, but I have generalized industry knowledge accumulated from the past
18 or so years (that is, at best I can make a decent guess). I was hoping
someone with direct experience on this issue might respond.

In this case in which the legality doesn't appear to be well determined, there
may very well not be a single law on the books when it comes to restricting
usage of a site to people below a certain age. However, a jury might set an
example then and there; and given the litigious times we live in, that's a
real risk.

I think you run the lawsuit risk at all times these days, but if I know for
certain this isn't illegal right now, then it boosts my confidence that in a
lawsuit situation I at least have a fighting chance.

~~~
true_religion
> Obviously you can be sued for things that aren't technically illegal, and
> you can lose due to a sympathetic jury.

If you feel that the law is on your side, but the jury won't be then opt for a
trial by judge. It's your right as the defendant.

~~~
dragonwriter
Actually, both parties have the right to jury trial in civil cases in the US
(at least, those in which either party has that right.)

The defense does not have the right to demand a bench trial if the plaintiff
prefers to exercise their right to a jury trial.

