"Have a look at the popularity of online services providing phone numbers for verification purpose." Sure. Let's see, Facebook requires phone number verificat

"Have a look at the popularity of online services providing phone numbers for verification purpose." Sure. Let's see, Facebook requires phone number verification: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-net... Facebook is #1 most popular social network. Okay, WhatsApp is #2 service: Requires Phone Number verification Youtube, #3: No phone number verification, service is full of fake accounts, trolling, bigotry, and state propaganda and is seen as one of the worst communities in internet history #4: Facebook Messenger: Phone Number Verification #5: WeChat: Phone Number Verification #6: QQ: Optional phone verification, but operated under am authoritarian government which strictly regulates user bases, use of networks, messages made, etc. (AKA they hire armies of people to manually monitor and police the service) Perhaps I'm failing to see your point...?