Why does facebook now require a phone to create an account?

[Bic Boi]

whos gonna link their phone with privacy-invading facebook

[Laphina]

because facebook is incredibly gay

[Dave]

Facebook can require a phone to create a account because there are more people who use facebook or other social media on their smartphone, therefore Facebook can ask you to give your phone number to log in to your account, in a word Its growing its influence further away, don't be afraid, your date won't be accessed because smartphone have what is called "permissions" in the OS that can prevent anything from accessing your personal data such as SMS, MMS and call log

[abraXus]

it doesnt - it only forces you to enter a phone number when they figure out that you are breaking the rules by creating more than one account