Twitter: SMS-Based Two-Factor Authentication Accessible to Blue Subscribers Only

Twitter has begun charging its users who want to make use of two-factor authentication (2FA) to receive login codes via SMS. This feature will now be available to Twitter Blue subscribers only, regular users will have to use other options mentioned in this article.

Today March 20th, 2023 was the target date as announced by Twitter last month that only Twitter Blue subscribers would be able to use the SMS as a 2FA authentication method to log in to their accounts as well as the third-party authenticator app or use a hardware security key. This usually serves as an extra security layer after inputting the regular account password for all users.

Last month when this development was announced to commence today, Twitter said that users would have up to 30 days to remove SMS-based 2FA from their account settings. They added that they will be shutting down access for SMS login codes for regular Twitter users with the reason that it was abused by "bad actors".

With Twitter Blue not being available in some countries like Nigeria, users there will have to make use of only username login without two-factor authentication. Those in supported countries can get access to Twitter Blue at a cheaper rate when they purchase the service on the Web interface of Twitter.

Though SMS-based two-factor authentication was removed from free users, they can still make use of a second layer of authentication such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, and many more authentication apps.