Twitter to Charge Users for SMS Two-Factor Authentication
- Balkaninsight.com
VIVA – A tweet by Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer stated to only blue subscribers will be able to use SMS-based two-factor authentication. It means, to non-Twitter Blue subscribers, those users now have 30 days to get on the blue train or risk having their SMS two-factor authentication turned off.
Now, it’s official: You have to pay for the privilege of using Twitter’s worst form of authentication. In fact, if you don’t start paying for Twitter Blue ($8 a month on Android; $11 a month on iOS) or switch your account to use a far more reliable authenticator app or physical security key, Twitter will simply turn off your 2FA after March 20th.
This is good news because SIM card swapping hacks are these days. This cybercrime technique started four years ago. This access can make accounts change hands to hackers through phone number theft.
Aside from these reasons, Twitter doesn't seem to have enough money right now because sending SMS messages costs money. The company has been phasing out SMS even before Elon Musk took over.
As Rachel Tobac points out, Twitter's transparency data shows that as of December 2021, only 2.6 percent of Twitter users have 2FA enabled and 74 percent of those users use SMS as their 2FA method.
One big reason a company might put SMS authentication behind a paywall, as The Verge's Sean Hollister points out, is that sending SMS messages costs money. Twitter is in desperate need of money, and it's been the plan since the billionaire took over to phase out SMS entirely anyway.
But it seems, at least for now, Elon Musk has found a way to at least monetize SMS. Considering that Twitter Blue subscriptions are making less than we thought, SMS authentication might be phased out entirely soon for all users.
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