Elon Musk is once more in the crosshairs of the public after Twitter users woke up Saturday morning to find that an essential security measure for their accounts was removed. Two-factor authentication via SMS, one of the more normalized security measures for online security, will now exist behind the Twitter Blue paywall and people are letting Musk have it.
While the mandate didn’t come from Elon Musk directly, fears were confirmed by a new post on Twitter’s blog explaining the new move and how two-factor authentication via SMS will change going forward.
From the Twitter blog:
While historically a popular form of 2FA, unfortunately we have seen phone-number based 2FA be used – and abused – by bad actors. So starting today, we will no longer allow accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2FA unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers. The availability of text message 2FA for Twitter Blue may vary by country and carrier.
Non-Twitter Blue subscribers that are already enrolled will have 30 days to disable this method and enroll in another. After 20 March 2023, we will no longer permit non-Twitter Blue subscribers to use text messages as a 2FA method. At that time, accounts with text message 2FA still enabled will have it disabled. Disabling text message 2FA does not automatically disassociate your phone number from your Twitter account. If you would like to do so, instructions to update your account phone number are available on our Help Center.
Twitter’s explanation did not seem to calm the fears or criticism from the platform’s massive pool of users and many are lashing out saying that this is another tactic from Musk to tear down the once-mighty space.
Keep scrolling to see the reactions to Twitter’s new two-factor authentication via SMS rules and Elon Musk below.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
1.
I have never seen a social media company charge money for a basic security measure like a two factor authentication before. This is getting ridiculous lmao. pic.twitter.com/sANAJ8GA56
— Ahmed Samir (@AhmedSamir89) February 18, 2023
2.
Everybody who’s not on twitter blue trying to use two factor authentication login pic.twitter.com/HphKBXhWaC
— Pizza Dad (@Pizza__Dad) February 18, 2023
3.
“Pay us money, or we will remove your verification and ability to use #TwoFactorAuthentication.”
This will make it easier for someone to:
1) Impersonate you
2) Hack your accountIt’s like @elonmusk is trying make people leave
pic.twitter.com/fBH1FjyMpE
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) February 18, 2023
4.
So now #SpaceKaren wants to charge us for an elementary security precaution or we'll lose access to Twitter? #FuckYouElon. Guess March 20 is when the user base is going to disappear forever because I'm not leaving myself open to hackers. #TwoFactorAuthentication pic.twitter.com/TSS3Ux2W4a
— Adam Scott (@AdamScottWrites) February 18, 2023
5.
Ex-fucking-scuse me? What kind of hacker enabling bullshit is this? Two factor authentication should not be gatekept for people who pay. pic.twitter.com/atlanx4qnV
— Daniel the Grey (@DangreWizard) February 18, 2023
6.
I'm not paying to keep my account from getting hacked.
Elon can go fuck himself.#TwoFactorAuthentication pic.twitter.com/Ri4S889esp
— LA Blue Dot in GA
(@namwella1961) February 18, 2023
7.
Right now every single Twitter user is waking up to that stupid two factor authentication message and freaking out, and just before Elon did that he posted this.
This is some King George shit. What a fucking idiot. pic.twitter.com/9lFRspMDSp
— The Call is Coming from Inside the Nash (@Nash076) February 18, 2023
8.
Twitter is disabling SMS two factor authentication for anyone who doesn’t have Blue. This is absolutely fucked up in every way. But don’t let it prevent you from using two factor authentication. Token apps (I use @Authy) are super easy to use and even more secure then SMS.
— Erin Biba (@erinbiba) February 18, 2023
9.
Now we have to pay Twitter for two factor authentication to protect our accounts. Soon we won’t even be able to tweet unless we give up $8/month. #TwitterIsBroken
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) February 18, 2023
10.
MySpace Tom would never do this. pic.twitter.com/dewCQy8mLO
— browngirltokes (@browngirltokes) February 18, 2023
The post Twitter Removes Two-Factor Authentication, Phony Stark AKA Elon Musk Gets Blame #TwoFactorAuthentication appeared first on The Latest Hip-Hop News, Music and Media | Hip-Hop Wired.