Twitter users will soon have to use an authenticator app or a security key to be able to use two-factor authentication if they’re not a Twitter Blue member.
According to Engadget , the latest report shows that Twitter has turned two-factor authentication (2FA) based on text messages (SMS) into an exclusive feature for members who pay for the paid service Blue. users Non-Blue will no longer be able to activate it if they haven’t already, while users who have used it will have until March 20 this year to disable the method and enable another type of authentication. other real.
Twitter will disable users’ 2FA functionality if they don’t convert by the deadline. According to the company, alternative authentication methods require users to take physical ownership of the authentication method and are a great way to ensure their accounts are secure.
In its announcement, Twitter said it made the decision after seeing the phone number-based 2FA feature being used and abused by bad actors. Even so, critics are questioning the company’s explanation and speculating that the real intention is to include SMS 2FA as one of the features offered for their subscription service. Twitter Blue is a subscription package that costs from 8 – 11 USD/month, or 84 USD per year. Twitter Blue members will get a green check mark next to the username.
Whatever Twitter’s true intentions, most users who enabled 2FA on the service may now have to change their login habits. According to the company’s transparency report from 2021, 74.4% of users have 2FA enabled via SMS method. Only 28.9% of users use authenticators and a very small fraction (0.5%) use security keys. Furthermore, only 2.6% of all Twitter users have 2FA enabled, although the number may have changed since then.