Yes it helps with KYC, but it also helps with fake accounts. People/groups that want to do fraudulent activity on Google have many of pre-created accounts to do

Yes it helps with KYC, but it also helps with fake accounts. People/groups that want to do fraudulent activity on Google have many of pre-created accounts to do their various schemes. It likely helps limit that. Plus, if an account is associated with a phone number, it will help with account takeover issues.