Twitter charges for two-factor authentication by SMS – 02/18/2023 – Tech

Twitter announced on Friday (17) that it will only allow subscribers to the platform’s paid service, Twitter Blue, to use SMS (text messages) as a two-factor authentication method to protect their accounts. This Saturday (18), users already find notices about the change.

Two-factor authentication is intended to make accounts more secure and requires the account holder to use a second authentication method in addition to a password. Currently, Twitter allows this validation via text message, authentication application or security key.

According to Twitter Support, the company’s profile to help Internet users, the method will only be available until March 20. As a justification, the company believes that SMS authentication is being used maliciously by some people.

Elon Musk, billionaire and CEO of Twitter, wrote on the platform “yes” to a tweet in which an account claims that policy was changed “because Telcos used bot accounts to trigger text messages in two-factor authentication”. Therefore, the company would be losing US$ 60 million (R$ 312 million) per year because of these fraudulent SMS.

This Saturday, users in Brazil and elsewhere in the world already see a warning about the change: “You need to remove two-step authentication enabled by text message”.

According to the text, only Twitter Blue subscribers can use the text message-enabled method, and it only takes a few minutes to remove it, but security key services and authentication application. Users who do not opt ​​out by March may lose access to Twitter.

The news did not please netizens. “Thanks Elon Musk, now even for security we have to pay,” wrote one user. Other profiles try to get around the situation by teaching other methods to make the account more secure.

The report sought contact with the advice of Twitter Brasil for clarification, but, according to former employees, after restructuring carried out by Elon Musk and mass dismissal, the company no longer has this type of representation in the country.

Twitter Blue is a subscription service offered by Twitter and arrived in Brazil earlier this month. The package gives you access to features like the blue verified account badge, halving timeline ads, and early use of new features.

If subscribed by computer, the service costs from BRL 42 per month. In cell phone apps, Twitter Blue costs R$60 a month.

With Reuters