I don't think this is true at all, maybe you are in a USA bubble? People in other parts of the world do not seem have a problem adding each other on LINE or Fac

I don't think this is true at all, maybe you are in a USA bubble? People in other parts of the world do not seem have a problem adding each other on LINE or Facebook for example without using a phone number at all. Meanwhile one friend of mine has lived in France, the UK and Germany in the last few years and I have no idea what his current phone number(s) are or what country they are from. Many acquaintances who I have not spoken to for some time have most likely moved abroad at some point and I doubt any of the phone numbers I have for them are still correct. In my experience, for reasons like this, people do not generally bother swapping phone numbers any more. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia recently, I was unable to sign up for Discord because they required verification with a phone number. My local phone number was rejected because it was prepay, not a contract. I wonder how many people in that part of the world have a phone contract? Does Signal also enforce that requirement? Should access to secure comminications really be linked to one's credit history in that way?