Twitter to charge users to secure accounts

Only paid members will be able to use SMS texts as a two-factor authentication (2FA) technique to protect their accounts, according to Twitter.

This decision was confirmed by Twitter Owner, Elon Musk when he responded “Yup” to a statement indicating the new directive.

The tweet read 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.”

Therefore after March 20, “only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method,” the company tweeted.

Account holders who use two-factor authentication must use a second authentication method in addition to their password to increase the security of their accounts. Twitter supports two-factor authentication through text messages, authentication apps, and a security key.

In a blog post on Wednesday that the business’s tweet linked to, the company stated that it thought “bad actors” were abusing the phone-number-based 2FA system.

Formerly only available to verified accounts of prominent figures like journalists, politicians, and other well-known people, the blue check mark is now available to anyone willing to pay.