SMS allows you to collect phone numbers which are quite good at identifying users for tracking and ad targeting though. And since most large tech companies are

SMS allows you to collect phone numbers which are quite good at identifying users for tracking and ad targeting though. And since most large tech companies are advertising companies (in whole or in part) it is no surprise they chose this as a second factor. Even if you try to avoid using SMS for 2FA they'll try to collect the number for account verification or recovery, with regular nags or lately go straight to extorting it out of you to continue to access purchased services or software.