I suspect facebook is doing an even sinister version of this in India. It runs what is called an free mobile authentication service for startup called Account k

I suspect facebook is doing an even sinister version of this in India. It runs what is called an free mobile authentication service for startup called Account kit. A lot of apps use it to authenticate mobile numbers because it s free. However, I suspect that facebooks intention behind this are not charitable at all. With this service facebook is able to get your phone number even if you dont give it to it. As long as you have installed any app on your mobile phone which uses Account kit to authenticate, facebook will be able to get your phone number and associate with your facebook account. We talk about how Uber has lost the way, but somehow Facebook escapes all criticism. I think facebook is so lost at this point that they might as well shut the company down and go home.