Four hours ago, Platformer's Zoe Schiffer wrote on Twitter: Twitter will start charging for two-factor authentication SMS factors.
And yes it is official: You will have to pay for the privilege of using Twitter authentication. In fact, if you don't start paying for it TwitterBlue ($8 per month on Android, $11 per month on iOS) or not change your account to use a much more reliable application authentication or a security key, Twitter will simply disable 2FA after March 20.
Getting rid of SMS isn't a bad thing, as SIM swap hacks give and take these days. Twitter's Jack Dorsey was the target of this technique four years ago. You don't want someone accessing your accounts pretending to be you just because they stole your phone number.
This, of course, is how Twitter tries to justify it change, but surely there is a simpler reason: sending SMS messages costs money money and Twitter continues to make cuts. The company had phased out SMS even before Elon Musk took over.
Meantime as reported by Rachel Tobac, Twitter transparency data shows that as of December 2021, only 2,6 percent of Twitter users use 2FA, and 74 percent of those users used SMS as their method of sending 2FA codes.