Don't require global phone number verification or any at all (At the very least leave it up to the streamer)
It seemed like one day I found out that I wasn't able to participate in chat without verifying with my phone number. I didn't want to give my personal number, so I used a Google Voice number that belongs to me. But by using that number, I get an error "please provide a valid phone number." There should've been a clear message indicating that Twitch doesn't allow VOIP numbers, so I wouldn't have to contact Twitch support or look through support articles.
I would hope that Twitch would allow any kind of numbers for what is suppose to be a simple process, but moreover, I am disappointed that Twitch would do phone verification AT ALL. I don't trust giving such personal information to Twitch/Amazon. Twitch's privacy policy is vague on their use with telephone numbers, not including the use of chat verification. Even though CCPA gives rights to be able to delete personal information Twitch holds about me, it's unfortunate that Twitch views that themselves that they are required to hold such information. It is TOO vague to know how long they would keep my number in my file and that it is completely OUT OF MY CONTROL on what happens with that information. I know that in the settings I can remove my number if I set it up for 2FA (which is an insecure way to do 2FA), I'm not sure how long Twitch holds my number for verification in the backend (I'm going to do a data request to see)
Even if I accepted the idea of phone verification, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE REQUIRED GLOBALLY?!? Global verifcation seems to mean that I can't chat on ANY streams unless I verify by phone. On an individual basis on the streamer's choice is something I can accept, but, as far as I know, I have done nothing wrong that would necessitate a global-wide phone verification that would allow my to chat with any other streams.
TL;DR:
- Twitch doesn't allow VOIP numbers, and doesn't give clear error message
- I believe there shouldn't be phone verification
- I don't trust Twitch/Amazon for securing personal data
- Twitch's Privacy Notice is not specific enough relating to phone verification
- There is not much control over my personal info and the retention of such data
- Global verification is dumb and should be up to the streamer to implement
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Shinomiya_s commented
It is because of stalkers and banned user. EMail verifications can be faked easly with fake emails, but phone not.
If people who get banned and stalker would stop being annoying, then there wouldn't be any need. Many people have the phone number verification for logging in from different brwosers/apps anyway, so it doesn't change much.