Washington: Microblogging site Twitter has officially announced that it will start charging its users to authenticate and secure their account via text messages as a two-factor authentication (2FA) method. “While historically a popular form of 2FA, unfortunately we have seen phone-number based 2FA be used – and abused – by bad actors,” Twitter wrote in a Friday night blog post. “So starting today, we will no longer allow accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2FA unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers.”
To continue using the text message/SMS facility, non-Blue subscribers have 30 days from the day of announcement to disable the method and enroll for either of the other two. After March 20, Twitter will not allow non-Blue users to use this method, and accounts still enrolled for the text-based 2FA will be disabled.
“After 20 March 2023, we will no longer permit non-Twitter Blue subscribers to use text messages as a 2FA method,” the company said.
Also, disabling the text facility will not automatically disassociate a user’s phone number from her/her Twitter account. Additionally, the availability of the SMS facility for Blue users may vary by country and carrier, said the Musk-owned social network.
The blue check mark, previously free for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures, is now open to anyone prepared to pay. Last month, Twitter said it would price Twitter Blue subscription for Android at $11 per month, the same as for iOS subscribers.
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