The ability to use text messages to verify your Twitter log-in will soon be locked behind a paywall, Twitter announced to users Friday evening.
In a tweet from the Twitter Support account, the social media company announced that the feature would be limited to users subscribed to Twitter Blue effective March 20, 2023.
Effective March 20, 2023, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method. Other accounts can use an authentication app or security key for 2FA. Learn more here:https://t.co/wnT9Vuwh5n
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) February 18, 2023
"While historically a popular form of 2FA, unfortunately we have seen phone-number based 2FA be used - and abused - by bad actors," the company said in a blog post published Wednesday that the tweet links to."Non-Twitter Blue subscribers that are already enrolled will have 30 days to disable this method and enroll in another."
The announcement has triggered the ire of an increasingly frustrated user base, as many users of the Twitter smartphone app were greeted by a message asking them to disable two-factor authentication.
Many were quick to point out how text message authentication, while considered the least secure method of verification, is the most accessible due to the ubiquity of smartphone access.
This announcement is the latest in a series of decisions and changes brought about in the wake of the company's acquisition by Elon Musk. Since the acquisition, the platform has seen substantial drops in revenue, with CNN reporting that nearly 625 of Twitter's top advertisers stopped paying to advertise on the platform, with monthly revenue dropping from around $127 millino to just over $48 million.
As a result of this drop in revenue, users were quick to point out the move as an attempts to regain some of that lost revenue.
