Twitter has announced that you’ll need to pay for SMS two-factor authentication feature. This feature is free, at the moment, but it will become a part of Twitter Blue starting next month. That will happen starting on March 20, 2023.
Twitter will require you to pay if you want to continue using SMS two-factor authentication
Do note that free accounts will still be able to use two-factor authentication, but not the SMS variant. You’ll still be able to use an authentication app or a security key.
Twitter already blocked free accounts from activating this feature. If you are not paying for Twitter Blue, and you have it activated already, you’ll lose the feature on March 20. If you do not, your two-factor authentication will be disabled automatically.
What is the reason behind this? Well, in its press release, Twitter says that the decision came after seeing “phone-number based 2FA be used — and abused — by bad actors”.
Either way, this is yet another weapon in the Twitter Blue arsenal. It’s another reason to make people switch to a paid subscription. Twitter Blue will cost you between $8 and $11 a month, or $84 a year, if you choose to get it.
What is interesting here, is that 74.4% of users who use two-factor authentication, use the SMS method. That is, at least, according to a report from 2021. Only 28.9% of users use authenticators, and 0.5% of users use security keys.
Based on a report from 2021, only 2.6% of Twitter users use two-factor authentication
That report, interestingly enough, also said that only 2.6% of Twitter users use two-factor authentication. Needless to say, the numbers may have changed considerably since then, we cannot be sure.
It remains to be seen how will this decision affect users. Some of them may be willing to pay for Twitter Blue following this. SMS two-factor authentication may not be the only reason, but it may be the reason that pushes them to the other side.
2023-02-20 15:06:17