If you still remember the early days of Twitter, you probably remember the possibility of tweeting or even creating an account via SMS. Twitter has now officially announced that it has disabled the functionality for the vast majority of users. In addition, millions of inactive accounts created via SMS have been eliminated by the microblogging network.
The company led by Jack Dorsey indicates that, with the exception of some countries, the change is even definitive. At issue is the emergence of numerous security vulnerabilities. It is recalled that, in September 2019, the social network had temporarily disabled the functionality after the CEO's account was hacked. However, Twitter indicates that it continues to use SMS to help users authenticate their accounts.
Although the vast majority of users prefer to use the Twitter application or directly access the social network, the functionality via SMS still has some relevance, for example, in countries where Internet access is not so easy.
SMS notifications via SMS are also used by various companies to alert consumers to the arrival of new products or services. For companies, Twitter recommends moving to more modern forms of notification supported by the platform.
With the elimination of millions of inactive accounts created via SMS, it is possible that some more popular users will notice a decrease of up to 10% in the number of followers. Apparently, the company started the process of eliminating the accounts on April 16. In a statement to the Mashable website, a Twitter spokesman indicated that the removal of inactive accounts is related to security reasons, since the risk of being compromised is high.
