Widespread Twitter 2FA issue “We cannot send a text message to this phone” error

by robtaylor on 12/20/2022, 11:58:17 AM with 14 comments
Lots of reports users locked out of accounts due to 2FA codes not being sent, error appears wrong ( We cannot send a text message to this phone number because its operator is not supported) as Twitter is not even firing the code. UK and India users mainly surfacing for problem.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%20We%20cannot%20send%20a%20text%20message%20to%20this%20phone%20number%20because%20its%20operator%20is%20not%20supported&src=recent_search_click&f=live

Do NOT reset passwords without removing phone first or you will be logged out totally without a way in.

  • by Stranger43 on 12/20/2022, 2:44:02 PM

    And now it starts, this is exactly the kind of issue everyone was predicting to start happen when Musk fired half the company and started pushing the remaining staff towards the door, and more or less in the timeline expected.

    Somehow some routine task related to the integration with the service that sends out 2fa authentication codes was not done, it could be non-technical like an forgotten/missed bill payment, or some technical bug/change that broke the integration.

  • by sublatio on 12/20/2022, 2:52:31 PM

    Quite possible this is due to a case of SMS traffic pumping fraud(https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/8360406023067-S...) backing up underlying resources. Does Twitter still have the resources to remediate something like that?

  • by jhoelzel on 12/20/2022, 2:22:43 PM

    at this point im basically waiting for a twitter scandal where a whistleblower developer comes forward and explains how twitter now has created its own bots and are actively faking conversations through chapgpt :D

  • by WallyFunk on 12/20/2022, 1:48:08 PM

    I registered several Twitter accounts over the years and each time I was prompted to provide a phone number so they could verify the account (they typically send out a verification code via SMS to confirm).

    But a year ago I setup an account and I still haven't been prompted to provide a phone number. This is some weird anomaly in Twitter's systems, and I'd love to know if there's some set of behaviors or steps I took to not get that prompt.

    I have a phone number on standby in-case they ask for one, but I'm kind of enjoying not having to provide one since phone numbers are linked to meat-space identities and I enjoy my new found 'anonymity', although Twitter probably has other ways besides phone numbers to learn who you really are, so it's more a pseudonymous account.

  • by sturza on 12/20/2022, 1:44:40 PM

    Sounds dramatic, i get that the consequence is unacceptable(not able to login to a social network), but not sure it deserves the drama. I’m not trying to be insesitive.

  • by gunlab99093 on 12/21/2022, 3:32:34 AM

    Twitter problem fix we cannot send a text message to this phone number because itz operator is not supported . Please problem fix

  • by 2devnull on 12/20/2022, 3:37:52 PM

    No problem here.