[kartickv]

Maybe giving them your phone number gives Google another signal to catch hackers in another country trying to taking over your Google account. Or a malware server could be prevented from taking over tons of Google accounts? I don't want in abuse, so there are only guesses.

I don't mind giving Google my hone number to keep my data secure, and I'm in the majority, so this is a good thing IMO.

[hrktb]

To further lurker456’s point, phone carriers are currently one of the weakest point if you care about security.

I assume you are giving your phone number to a lot of entities already (public administration, HR, service prodivers, delivery etc.). From there a simple phone call to your carrier will be enough to reset your contact dmail, SIM and/or have a new one activated.

[lurker456]

You should, because anyone that can compromise your phone will be able to get into your email.

From there it's a small step to reset passwords (SMS 2FA won't help here, as they also have your phone) to all online services you signed up for with that email.

[kartickv]

Yes, but you need to weigh that risk against the risk of not having 2FA.

Taking a step back, and responding to the other comment in response to mine as well, I was just speculating. I don't work in abuse, and I'm inclined to trust the Google abuse engineers over myself or random HN commentators to keep my Google account safe.