1. Google’s aggressive privacy‑eroding verification and tracking
Many commenters describe how Google now forces phone‑number linkage, QR‑code scans, and VPN‑based restrictions that make anonymous use nearly impossible.
- “Google is probably the most aggressive anti‑privacy big tech company currently operating.” – maxo133
- “The requirement to have a mobile device to scan a QR code to verify that you're human… Reverse SMS verification… You think of signing up using a VPN server in another country? The phone number you use to send the SMS from must also be from that country.” – maxo133
- “It's essentially almost impossible to create a Google account without giving up your identity, and your phone number often leads directly to your real‑life identity.” – maxo133
2. Motives: ad‑driven data hunger and regulatory pressure to curb fraud/bots
Users point out that Google’s data collection fuels its ad business and that governments push for stricter identity verification to fight scams, fraud, and bot activity.
- “More data = better ad sales.” – fred_is_fred
- “line go up” – baggachipz (referring to profit motive)
- “Governments have told them its time to start violating users privacy in order to combat these other problems.” – ninininino (linking regulatory demands to privacy loss)
3. User coping strategies and the sense of futility
Commenters discuss workarounds like carrying a second phone, separating accounts, or trying to opt‑out, while acknowledging the difficulty and limited effectiveness of such efforts.
- “I carry two phones now - since I have my 'privacy' enabled phone that basically has nothing on it… Trying to fight it takes an enormous amount of time and energy.” – burningChrome
- “Bene vixit, bene qui latuit.” (To live well is to live concealed.) – burningChrome
- “Having two phones is more common than you think… One is my work phone… other one is mine.” – mixdup
- “It did not leave a good taste that I had to do this after the fact, I would have appreciated a notice with a chance to opt out first.” – anygivnthursday
These three themes—Google’s invasive verification tactics, the underlying ad‑ and regulation‑driven motives, and users’ mixed‑success attempts to preserve privacy—dominate the discussion.