How to keep your Twitter account secure -- without paying

Twitter users were greeted early Saturday with an ultimatum to subscribe to the platform's premium service or lose access to two-factor authentication.

Twitter users were greeted early Saturday with an ultimatum from the social media app: Subscribe to the platform's new premium service or lose a popular account security feature.

A pop-up message warned users they will lose the ability to secure their accounts via text message two-factor authentication unless they pay $8 a month to subscribe to Twitter Blue.

The message said that starting March 19, users who don't subscribe will be locked out of their accounts until they remove the security feature.

Here are some questions and answers about why Twitter made this change and alternative ways to secure your account:

Two-factor authentication adds a second layer of security to password-protected accounts by having users enter an auto-generated code to log in.

This extra step helps safeguard online accounts because in addition to the password, you need access to a separate app, device or phone number where you can receive the code.

Such codes can be generated by apps like Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator. Or they can be sent to a user's smartphone via text message.