As a part of this variation, Twitter can even flip off 2FA on your account utterly for those who don’t change away from SMS verification or pay for Blue earlier than that deadline, leaving your account weak to hacking. Luckily, you may nonetheless allow 2FA free of charge utilizing an authenticator app, like Google Authenticator or Authy. You can too use a safety key, however this requires the acquisition of an precise piece of {hardware}.

Twitter’s making SMS 2FA a paid function as a result of it’s the least safe type of authentication. This may occasionally appear counterintuitive, however it ought to at the very least steer non-subscribers away from the tactic, because it’s recognized to go away customers inclined to an assault referred to as SIM swapping.

This may happen when a nasty actor makes use of social engineering or another sort of tactic to persuade your cell service to reassign your telephone quantity to their system. They will then intercept the textual content messages you obtain, together with these SMS 2FA codes, probably permitting them to realize entry to your accounts.