Twitter has announced that it’s temporarily turning off the ability to Tweet via SMS, to protect people’s accounts from vulnerabilities with mobile carriers.
In case you missed it, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account was hacked last week. Hackers were able to use a SIM swap attack to give them access to his phone number, and by doing so they were then able to tweet out racial slurs via SMS.
While Dorsey got his account back, he now admits he still doesn’t have a phone number as a result of the hack. In response to this hack, Twitter is now temporarily disabling the ability to send tweets via SMS.
In an announcement earlier this week, the company explained that this was to protect people’s accounts:
We’re temporarily turning off the ability to Tweet via SMS, or text message, to protect people’s accounts.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 4, 2019
However, the other reason is “because of vulnerabilities that need to be addressed by mobile carriers.” Part of the problem is the “reliance on having a linked phone number for two-factor authentication.”
Twitter now promises it’s now “working on improving this.”
It’s not clear how long the feature will be disabled, but Twitter did say that it’s working to reactivate it “in markets that depend on SMS for reliable communication soon.” The company is also working on a more long-term strategy to deal with the problem.
You might also like
More from Twitter
Audio Tweets Are Now A Reality For iOS Users
Twitter is debuting a new feature that lets iOS users record audio snippets up to 140 seconds, and share them …
Twitter Is Testing Emoji Reactions Again
Twitter has restarted work on a new feature that would let users react to tweets with Emoji. The first time …
Twitter Says You Should Read An Article Before Tweeting It
Twitter is testing out a new feature for Android users that prompts them to read an article before tweeting it, …
Encouraged By First Results, Twitter Brings Fleets To India
After launching Fleets - its own Stories format - in Brazil and Italy, Twitter has now announced the feature's rollout …
Twitter To Relaunch Verification With Clear Guidelines
Twitter will reportedly relaunch verification with a new system allowing users to request a verified profile based on a clear …
K-Pop Fans Take Over #whitelivesmatter To Drown Out Racist Posts
K-Pop fans are showing their formidable social media power to drown out potential racist posts using the hashtag #whitelivesmatter on …
You Can Now Schedule Tweets Natively
Again no edit button, but Twitter has quietly rolled out the ability to schedule tweets natively from its web app. Bad …
Twitter Tests New Way To Restrict Who Takes Part In Your Conversations
Twitter is testing a new feature that lets you limit who can reply in public conversations, allowing everyone else to …
Watch MJ’s Last Game As A Chicago Bull On Twitter
Gatorade has teamed up with the National Basketball Association to live stream MJ's latest game with the Chicago Bulls in …
