[encom]

Several years ago I tried to make a Twitter account. It got banned before I posted anything. I hadn't even subscribed to any users. I was going through the settings, and then \bam\, banned for being a bot, or some such nonsense. Nothing of value was lost.

[5560675260]

Twitter aggressively tries to get phone numbers from new users - providing it is the main way to get unbanned in cases like this.

[encom]

Unless you're my mother, or maybe if you're part of my immediate family, you're not getting my phone number.

American giant corporation with questionable ethics: hard no.

[5560675260]

Yeah, I had to get a separate number just to please twitter's automation.

Their approach is somewhat understandable - stopping bots is a hard problem, phone number in theory represents a material cost and a hurdle to someone who wants to rapidly register thousands of new accounts.

[iso1210]

Don't you have a burner phone/sim for these types of requests?

[encom]

This is brought up every time this subject is discussed. Is a burner phone a normal thing that regular people have?

But no, I don't have a burner phone. I'm not going to buy a phone and a SIM just as some kind of non-solution to tech companies having a hard-on for invading peoples privacy.

[iso1210]

I have an old phone (who doesn't) which I leave plugged in on my desk, with a £5 payg sim card.