> The FTC says Twitter induced people to provide their phone numbers and email addresses by claiming that the company’s purpose was, for example, to “Safeguard your account.

> ...

> But according to the FTC, much more was going on behind the scenes. In fact, in addition to using people’s phone numbers and email addresses for the protective purposes the company claimed, Twitter also used the information to serve people targeted ads – ads that enriched Twitter by the multi-millions.

source: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/05/twitter-p...

So you're right, it wasn't for "no reason", but it also wasn't just for fraud and spam prevention, security, or any of the other lies Twitter told users.

Exactly. I don't have an issue with this if I know they're not using it to farm shit off of me.

But then again, they wouldn't make much money otherwise.

it adds a small cost to creating sockpoppets but it adds much larger value in having personal data for targeted ads

like my sibling said, twitter was dishonest to their users how the phone number was to be used

if it's just to prevent bot signups, why keep it on file at all?

They no longer use it for ads, so the value now is just fraud and security.

> if it's just to prevent bot signups, why keep it on file at all?

I mean, you need the actual number for 2FA. I guess maybe you could hash it after some amount of time just for blocking bots? You couldn't just discard it or one number could create unlimited bots.

Multiple companies have been caught using information for ads that they said they wouldn't, and Twitter have already proven that they're not trust worthy

They might use it in ranking posts presented to you. Or deciding where yours rank.

There’s more to sorting than just ads, security and fraud.

As someone that chooses not to own a cell phone, I am often written off as collateral damage in this type of thinking.

I pay about $0.2 for a working phone number instantly via API. Or pennies for packs of aged accounts. Do you actually think that stops anything?