Twitter users warn each other: don’t log in if you have 2FA authentication set up

Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s massive layoffs appear to have sent the company adrift, with basic features such as two-step authentication (2FA) ceasing to work for a large proportion of users.

That’s how users who had previously set up two-step authentication as an additional security measure end up unable to log out of their user account. Simply put, SMS messages containing the authentication code are no longer sent by Twitter servers, leaving users unable to log in again.

Although known, the problem is not yet fixed, with users warning each other to avoid logging off the platform, or if they have good reason to do so, at least to take “preventative” action. Thus, those using 2FA authentication should first change the option to receive the code via sms to using a code generator such as Google Authenticator. This way, instead of waiting for the code received directly from Twitter, users will be able to generate it directly on their phone.

lmao pic.twitter.com/j79sQGYJhH

– Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) November 14, 2022

According to speculation, the problem may have arisen after a measure announced by Elon Musk, with the Twitter chief informing of the shutdown of “bloatware based on microservices”, these explaining that less than 20% of them are actually necessary for the micro blogging platform to function. In principle, Musk was right, 2FA codes received via SMS are not absolutely necessary since there is already a no-cost alternative from Twitter in the form of Google Authenticator. The problem is that no one thought that such a transition should be done gradually, first by informing users properly and only then by migrating them to the new 2FA authentication system, i.e. stopping the SMS code sending service.

At the moment, Twitter administrators are not offering an official solution to the problems reported by users.