Well, Dreamwidth, for one, is still allowing anonymous signups/accounts. Medium also only required an email for their free account. (I'm pretty sure their pay stuff will require real ID at least on the payment side of things.) But yeah, I think most popular social media sites require a real phone number these days for no good reason. Real ID is stupid and fails to actually make a difference when it comes to stopping online bullying and only threatens the at risk groups. Moderators and limited access (like privacy locks, trial period memberships, etc.) are the only things that have keep the bullying at bay, yet big social media sites aren't willing to moderate (because it's expensive) or set up limited access (because investors).
Re: Chinese apps - Actually, I've managed to set up a Weibo and Bilibili account with google voice number. Those are probably the two biggest social media sites in China and they don't seem have any issue with overseas numbers so long as they can receive SMS confirmation numbers. VOIP numbers are fine. But major social media sites based in the US seem to ban VOIP like they're banks or something. (I also have bitterness towards banks banning VOIP numbers, thus making it impossible for me to migrate my number to Google Voice. But also the banks' refusal to move onto digital token 2FA is annoying AF.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2024-01-25 01:18 (UTC)Well, Dreamwidth, for one, is still allowing anonymous signups/accounts. Medium also only required an email for their free account. (I'm pretty sure their pay stuff will require real ID at least on the payment side of things.) But yeah, I think most popular social media sites require a real phone number these days for no good reason. Real ID is stupid and fails to actually make a difference when it comes to stopping online bullying and only threatens the at risk groups. Moderators and limited access (like privacy locks, trial period memberships, etc.) are the only things that have keep the bullying at bay, yet big social media sites aren't willing to moderate (because it's expensive) or set up limited access (because investors).
Re: Chinese apps - Actually, I've managed to set up a Weibo and Bilibili account with google voice number. Those are probably the two biggest social media sites in China and they don't seem have any issue with overseas numbers so long as they can receive SMS confirmation numbers. VOIP numbers are fine. But major social media sites based in the US seem to ban VOIP like they're banks or something. (I also have bitterness towards banks banning VOIP numbers, thus making it impossible for me to migrate my number to Google Voice. But also the banks' refusal to move onto digital token 2FA is annoying AF.)