Twitter to charge users to secure accounts via text message

Only paid members will be able to use text texts as a two-factor authentication (2FA) technique to secure their accounts, Twitter announced on Friday.

Only Twitter Blue subscribers will be allowed to use text texts as their two-factor authentication method after March 20, the company announced in a tweet.

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.

https://twitter.com/twittersupport/status/1626757589089370114?s=46&t=n-xjKEVwtKzJIpSw1a8d8w

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.

In response to a user tweet that the company was changing policy “because Telcos Using Bot Accounts to Pump 2FA SMS” and that the company was losing $60 million a year “on scam SMS,” Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted “Yup.”

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.

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