Twitter seems to be putting its financial gain above the security of over 368 million users worldwide.
The social network owned by Elon Musk is seemingly focusing on its paid subscribers under Twitter Blue, leaving the rest to their fate.
Twitter recently announced that it will limit the use of SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) to only Twitter Blue subscribers.
How This Affects Regular Users
“Effective from 20 March 2023, we will no longer support two-factor authentication using text messages for non-Twitter Blue subscribers,” Twitter says.
With about 368 million active users and only about 300,000 reportedly subscribed to Twitter Blue, only the subscribed ones will have access to SMS authentication.
This means that the remaining users are potentially at risk of weakened account security.
Even for the Twitter Blue subscribers, the authentication is not confirmed as Twitter says its availability “may vary by country and carrier”.
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This translates to saying that both subscribers and non-subscribers have to find alternative means to secure their accounts.
Elon Musk Provides Alternative
Authentication apps are much more secure than SMS, Musk tweets.
The Twitter CEO believes that users should use authentication apps to secure their accounts instead.
However, Andy Kays, CEO of threat detection specialists Socura believes the removal of two-factor authentication could be harmful.
“In the short term, the removal of 2FA could be harmful, especially among less tech-savvy social media users,” Kays warns.
According to him, most users will “switch from using SMS 2FA to using no form of 2FA whatsoever.”
Why Musk Removed SMS Authentication
While the platform did not exactly give reasons for the removal of the SMS authentication, users have been speculating on the reasons behind the removal.
Many believe that the removal is based on Musk’s tweet about the authentication method being less secured.
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Others, however, believe it is more of a financial reason and a way to cut costs.
This is as Twitter has been reportedly losing money since Musk took over the company.
The company is seeking ways to cut costs using different means including mass layoffs.
