Twitter to Charge Money for a Free Security Feature

Last night, Zoe Schiffer of Platformer sent out a tweet about breaking news: Twitter was going to start charging for two-factor authentication via SMS (2FA). Through an official announcement, Twitter has now confirmed this.

Users now have to pay to use Twitter’s primary secure login method. After March 20, App will turn off your 2FA authentication if you don’t upgrade to Twitter Blue, which costs $8 per month on Android and $11 per month on iOS, or switch to a more reliable authenticator app or a physical security key.

Since SIM swap hacks are so shared these days, most people may stop using SMS to prove who they are. Even Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, fell for this trick four years ago. You don’t want someone to get into your accounts just because they have your phone number and can pretend to be you.

CEO says this is the change, but it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a simpler one: sending SMS messages costs money, and Twitter is having trouble making money right now. The company had already been slowly getting rid of SMS before Elon Musk joined.

Rachel Tobac, a cyber security expert, points out that Twitter’s transparency data from December 2021 shows that only 2.6% of Twitter users had 2FA turned on and that 74% of those used SMS as their preferred authentication method.