In the US, some major social media, financial institutions, companies, apps, etc. require a phone number that can be verified by text in order to participate in their services. You can opt to also use an app or YubiKey for 2FA, but they require a verified phone as well. They have restrictions on what kinds of phone numbers they allow and can detect and disallow XMPP, VoIP, and silent link eSIMs.
Discussion
That's why I love using services that don't require personal information like Threema, XMPP , and Session
That’s why nostr remains cool 👍 (so far…. 😂)
Yup, kyc… i believe it’s to prevent anonymous activity from would be fraudsters and general up to no good characters + money laundering.
The real reason is the government wants you completely monitored at all times like a lab rat. They want to have full control over what the people think, say, and do.