Signal needs a phone number. Why are we dismissing this as privacy versus anonymity when governments are blocking the registration SMS? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by autonomoususer@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I really don’t get why so many people are turning this into a privacy versus anonymity debate when the real problem is censorship.

Yes, Signal needs a phone number to sign up, but replacing that with an email or username doesn’t make it anonymous. The real issue is that governments are blocking the registration SMS, so people can’t even sign up for the app in the first place.

Sure, there are workarounds, but most people aren’t going to jump through all those extra hoops just to use an app. If we want to spread privacy, how do we do that when Signal's phone number requirement is actively working against us?

Instead of arguing over privacy versus anonymity, shouldn’t we focus on making sure everyone can access Signal without issues? What do you think?

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[-] Ulrich@feddit.org -3 points 23 hours ago

How do you figure?

[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 3 points 15 hours ago

Sure, there are workarounds, but most people aren’t going to jump through all those extra hoops just to use an app.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 0 points 11 hours ago

Must not be important to them then.

this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025

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