I’ve been a social media hermit for the past 3 years but recently I’ve given up and created a few accounts across different apps again. It’s unreal how strict the requirements are now.
- Give e-mail (ok)
- Give phone number (… eeh, ok)
- Use the new account for a while
- Account suspended, please upload selfie to continue (no thanks xi). There are also some verification promps where you have to record a video and rotate your face left to right
If this isn’t a message to move to indie web I don’t know what is
It’s right up there with random requirements to upload government photo id to suppliers in a different legal system. Hard Pass.
(I’m looking at you, PayPal, Airbnb and Stripe)
Yeah, I’ve been using PayPal and AirBnB for years but if they ever start req… excuse me, WHEN they start requiring government ID I’m out.
I never tried Stripe
Here in Australia, they were attempting to force us to provide Government Photo ID on Airbnb several years ago, we stopped using them instead.
There’s a Know Your Customer (KYC) legislation that keeps being interpreted by numpties as requiring that they store these documents, rather than identify the user, create an account and dispose of the documents, which is making these companies rich hunting ground for infiltration by groups wanting to monetize personal data and provide identity theft services.
That sucks. Sorry you have to deal with that.