Another Twitter blunder, another Musk rant
Security SMSes are not the real problem, another hurried decision is
For once Elon Musk has a point. As essential as two-factor authentication (2FA) is, using the oldfashioned (though reliable) SMS is a bad idea. I have been advocating against this outdated security feature for years. Instead, everyone should use an authenticator app that generates a unique six-digit code every 30 seconds — which is much safer and can’t be spoofed with the common SIM card swap scam.
Musk’s motivation is slightly different. He’s trying to save money. But, as with everything he has done since announcing his controversial $44bn Twitter takeover, Musk has bungled this transition. Again.
“Twitter is getting scammed by phone companies for $60m/year of fake 2FA SMS messages,” Musk tweeted. This was in response to a tweet warning “Rule #1: Never charge for something that was previously free” about this new Twitter change.
If you followed this thread, you could read all the outrage for yet another seemingly spontaneous decision by the second-richest person in the world.
As important as moving from SMS to an authenticator app is — and you should do it immediately if you haven’t — Twitter makes a dangerous assumption about the tech-savviness of its users. Many people have never heard of an authenticator app, while many smartphone users can’t afford the data to download it.
This means tens of millions of potential users will be left in the lurch.
Meanwhile, the haste in cancelling such a big security feature is going to backfire. You can just see the slow-motion train wreck of Musk’s takeover hitting another hurdle — but also another own goal that could have been avoided with a touch of thoughtfulness and a less hurried implementation.
Ignored by most non-Americans, the annual Super Bowl burst into the global consciousness this year because US President Joe Biden’s tweet got more engagement than Musk’s. So, starting with an internal message at 2.36am, about 80 staff were tasked to find out why his tweets weren’t getting the traction they used to.
Musk’s lack of engagement might be because many Twitter users have blocked or muted him. Now, everyone on Twitter gets to see every one of Musk’s tweets — whether they like it or not.
It’s no surprise that Twitter is losing users. Turns out toxicity is distasteful in the digital town square.
American Twitter users have fallen 9% since Musk’s takeover, according to a report by The Covid States Project, a research organisation run by Rutgers, Harvard, Northeastern and Northwestern universities.
In October 2022, the month Musk dropped his legal challenge to buy Twitter and took ownership, the percentage of Americans using the social platform dropped from 32.4% to 29.5% by January 2023.
This is bad news for advertising revenue — given the primacy of the US market to Twitter’s bottom line. No wonder Musk wants to stop paying $60m a year to phone companies — his personal fortune is heavily dependent on this albatross of a dysfunctional social media company.
But like everything else since he bought Twitter, it’s so poorly executed it’s more destructive than it needs to be. Just ask the advertisers.x