Forced account

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Forced account registration/sign-in/log-in is a practice committed by entities, where users must have (and use) a digital identity to perform simple tasks that may have otherwise been possible without any sort of identifiers.

Because forced accounts generally means anonymity is technically possible, entities that engage in this practice have little reason to do so outside of personal gain. They may find it favorable for several reasons, including:

1. Identification and tracking of users - often accomplished through device identifiers, location information, and network connection.^{[citation needed]}
2. Increased digital integration - more integrating means more sharing data with payment processors, ad providers, and more.^{[citation needed]}
3. Increased centralization and dependency on big companies - further consolidates power and wealth into large companies, such as the tech companies who own the authentication servers, as well as payment processors. While not all user identification mechanisms need centralization, most corporations tend to prefer centralization.^{[citation needed]}

Examples

• Samsung and Google both deliberately limit what the user can do on the Galaxy Store and Play Store^{[citation needed]}, respectively. Most features (such as updating and installing apps) are either completely blocked, or hidden from the main UI, nagging the user into signing-in to unlock the "extra" features.^{[citation needed]}
• LG mandates login to download (and update) apps on smart TVs.
• Windows 11 requires to log in with a Microsoft account in order to configure and use the operating system.
• Many social-media apps (both web and native), (such as: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Pinterest, etc...) are well-known for nagging users that aren't logged-in.^{[citation needed]} Instagram is a especially anti-consumer example, as it deliberately nags users even if they disabled JavaScript, going as far as blocking access to any media (images, videos and "reels") after the user has watched a few of them.
• Discord doesn't even allow viewing public guilds, unless the user has logged-in. This is especially bad for archival purposes, since they aggressively block "self-bot" accounts unless the bot has been officially registered.

See also

• Forced identification
• Forced app download
• Dark pattern § Forced action
• Android Developer Verification