[the_gipsy]

Most likely they don't want to. It's ridiculous that you would need to give your phone number for some chat program.

[iknowstuff]

Is it? In a world full of LLMs and limited privacy preserving verification methods?

Unless we come up with a global, double blind cryptographic government ID system, this is the reality of the internet.

[the_gipsy]

It doesn't really solve spam in a meaningful way in practice.