Marketers and influencers in the promotional products industry who rely on Twitter will have to start paying if they want to continue using the social media platform’s two-factor authentication (2FA), a security bulwark that helps prevent accounts from being hacked.

Twitter is telling users they will lose access to their accounts if they fail to turn off the text message-driven two-factor authentication feature by March 19. After that date, Twitter-provided 2FA will still be available but only to Twitter Blue users.

Twitter Blue is an $8 per-month subscription service that affords users access to so-called premium features like the ability to edit tweets, secure a blue checkmark and, soon, leverage SMS-based two-factor authentication.

What To Do?

Two-factor authentication, or multi-factor authentication, offers your web accounts more security by requiring you to input a password and a one-time security code delivered by text, an app or security key. To continue having 2FA on Twitter, you can pay for Twitter Blue or use an authenticator app or security key.

If you don’t want to pay for Twitter Blue (and don’t want to lose access to Twitter), be sure to shut down 2FA before March 19. Do this by clicking through the following: Go to Settings and Support, then Settings and privacy, then Security and account access, then Security, then Two-factor authentication and, finally, uncheck the box beside “text message.”

So, it really happened. #Musk is going to start charging #Twitter users to use text-message-based two-factor authentication. This is what I got after I signed in just now with text-message-based 2FA. pic.twitter.com/pYtSAlzcmz

— Devon Heinen (@DevonHeinen) February 18, 2023

Next, decide whether you want to use an authenticator app or security key. With an authenticator app, for instance, you’ll get a verification code to enter every time you log into Twitter to help ensure account security.

If you already use an authenticator app, consider deploying that one for Twitter, too. If you don’t, there are free options out there, such as Google Authenticator.

After deciding which authenticator to use, download it if you haven’t already and then set it in place for your Twitter account by clicking through the following: Settings and privacy, Security and account access, Security, Two-factor authentication, and then select Authentication App. You’ll enter your password and click “confirm,” after which you should get overview instructions. Click “get started” and go from there to finalize the setup.

Elon Musk, the billionaire business magnate and investor whose titles include founder/CEO of space exploration corporation SpaceX and CEO of electric automobile maker Tesla, purchased Twitter in October 2022.

Since then, Musk has reportedly been busy trying to cut costs and generate new/enhanced revenue streams for the platform.

Twitter has been hit with a number of lawsuits in recent months, including one from promo products distributor Canary Marketing (asi/156455), which alleges that the social media giant has failed to pay $392,239 in invoices owed for branded merchandise.