You are wise! You probably remember the internet of 2000, when you could sign up for a website without a phone number. Hell, you didn't even need an email address. Just a username and password, which you provided upon logging in. Why would your real life persona need to be "verified" in order to read things, rate posts, watch videos, make posts and comments? Yet now it's all about proving you are who you say you are, and about using real first and last names. I remember in 2010 or so when YT began getting shitty. 2012 or so was shadowbanning, and also the start of the "tell us who you are" nonsense, which led to Google+ and the loss of comments unless you had it, and then the removal of Google+ because nobody used or liked it and just had it to make YT comments. Then the 2018 admission of shadowbanning, and the deplatforming of anyone not towing the line. Nightmare.
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Easy. Control my friend. That is what they always want. Just like in China.
I've emailed to support at parler.com and asked them to justify why they need the phone number for sign-up. I also mentioned that this requirement is holding back a lot of potential users from entering their platform. In addition, I told them that many are holding back not just because of privacy, but also safety; since they cannot 100% guarantee they won't be hacked (and hence their users personal phone numbers) then this pretty much amounts to an absurd requirement. Lastly, if they tell me that phone is required for 'authentication' then I call BS on this, as it can be done adequately via email (this is only a platform for posting info/comments, after all). Perhaps, arguably, only 2-factor authentication should be required with phone such as banking/brokerage/crypto - in that case I think it is "justifiable" - otherwise, not so.