I used reddit on a mobile browser. At some point they completely blocked that and made it app-only on mobile, and I started looking for an exit. When the API bullshit happened shortly after I found one and took it

During Obama’s first campaign Bill Clinton came and spoke at a local college (maybe for Hillary? I’m not sure tbh, I was like 12), and I climbed up a statue plinth outside the speech zone to better see. Some guy in a black suit came and told me to get down immediately

It’s definitely not a perfect system and you’re absolutely right that it significantly favors people with strong support and safety nets, especially those of a financial nature.

That being said it’s a very easy shorthand for a company to take and is reliable enough to keep using it, just like how financial institutions in the US use SSNs as private identifiers because it’s easier and cheaper than running and supporting their own systems/assessments and mostly works well enough