Question

Hey OutrunWhistle​,

If the account is a child/underage account, that would indeed be the reason you're unable to use chat or messaging in-game. 

From this page:

Mobile games

Many countries have data protection laws that require us to make sure children experience our games in a way that’s appropriate for their age. In some of our mobile games that don’t need an EA Account to play, we ask players their age and then turn off features that may not be appropriate for them. For example, if your child is below the minimum age of digital consent in your country, they won’t be able to connect to social networks and access social features like Chat.

If that's an underage account incorrectly, you can check this article for more information on getting that aged up to a proper account.