Elon Musk Says He Will Give Up His Phone Number And 'Only Use X' For Texts And Calls

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has made a startling announcement: he will discontinue his phone number in a "few months" and completely switch to his social media platform, X, for texts and calls.

What Happened: Musk made the announcement on X, stating his decision to go all-in on X in his endeavor to make it an "everything app."

"In a few months, I will discontinue my phone number and only use X for texts and audio/video calls."

However, the question remains on how Musk will deal with the two-factor authentication that some apps and services require.

While he can switch to a hardware security key for multi-factor authentication and end his reliance on SMS-based one-time passwords, X also requires a verified phone number, especially for accounts with blue ticks.

His followers pointed this out on X, and while some suggest X could make an exception for its owner, it might not matter for the time being since Musk's account has already been verified.

However, not all apps and services that offer multi-factor authentication support security keys, which might make it tricky for Musk if he does end up discontinuing his phone number.

Why It Matters: Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have been pushing to transform the social media platform into an "everything app" for a while now.

The "everything" part of this vision includes "unlimited interactivity", from audio/video, messaging, payments, and more, according to Yaccarino.

For what it's worth, audio and video calls are already available on X. Premium users can also post longer, higher-quality videos on the platform and download them to their devices.

Premium users can also send private messages to everyone else on X, while non-paying users can only send to those who follow them back.

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