As title says. I haven’t used my Google account for more than 3 months. Prior to abandoning my Google account, I unlinked my phone number, deleted my recovery email, and logged out every device. I also never had 2FA TOTP setup.
Today I tried logging in and it won’t let me. See video. Apparently, providing my login credentials doesn’t prove that the account belongs to me. And no, I won’t give them my phone number again to login.
I hate Google
Google already knows your phone number, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to do that to protect the account from theft, especially after several months of inactivity and without any other means to verify the account ownership.
I understand that Google already has my phone number. That’s not so much of a problem for me. I am trying to limit the amount of personal information that I hand out to websites & services. I believe that companies shouldn’t need my personal phone number to create, maintain or secure my account. If I need security, I’ll install 2FA TOTP. If not, that’s still my decision and I shouldn’t be forced. Especially not in form of having to provide my phone number.
You can believe whatever you like. The companies that disagree have no obligation to service you. Go find services that don’t require phone numbers if this is important to you; they do exist.
The solution if you and a service don’t see eye to eye with terms is to not have you use the service. Seems like Google made the decision for you.
What you believe is irrelevant. You don’t run the service.
Hire a security professional or keep trying or give up. I loathe google but this isn’t their fault.