Only paid subscribers will be able to use text messages as a two-factor authentication (2FA) technique to secure their accounts, Twitter announced on Friday. After March 20, “only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method,” the company tweeted.
Two-factor authentication, designed to increase account security, necessitates the usage of a second authentication method in addition to a password by the account holder. Twitter supports 2FA with a security key, an authentication app, and text messages.
According to a blog post on Wednesday that the business’s tweet linked to, the company thinks “bad actors” are abusing phone-number-based 2FA.
Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted “Yup” in reply to a user tweet that the company was changing policy “because Telcos Used Bot Accounts to Pump 2FA SMS,” and that the company was losing $60 million a year “on scam SMS.”
The blue checkmark, which was previously only available to verified accounts of public figures like journalists, legislators, and other well-known people, is now available to anyone willing to pay.
Twitter announced last month that the cost of the Twitter Blue subscription for Android users will be the same as that for iOS users i.e. $11 per month.
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