why is the age restriction to ask a question 12 and under?

Child safety. Children should not be asking or answering questions on a site designed for adults.

This website covers topics that are not meant for underage children without a proper explanation, such as politics, racism, and ideological quarrels.

Much of the website's trolling made it much worse, so bad that children who go there would end up having severe misunderstandings about the world around them, or get influenced to harm themselves and others.

13 actually,not 12.There are enough trolls without letting little kids loose here.

Its 13 and over not 12 and Under and they have these Rules to keep Users Under 13 Safe

This is for legal and safety reasons and to be in full compliance of COPPA. Underage users don't know there are already a lot of dangers lurking online and should never be on this site, per the Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.

As per COOPA rules only those 13+ can have an account.

To keep your children safe.

Keep your child safe on Yahoo Answers

We know how important family is so we made it easy to keep your children safe while online. By updating their profile settings and following our child safety recommendations, you can rest easy knowing their personal info is protected and safe. Please know children under the age of 13 are not permitted to ask or answer questions on Yahoo Answers.

This is Yahoo policy not mine.

At this place, it should be over 18.

because of the graphic nature of questions / answers