I had an account and you definitely didn't need a drivers license to post anything. I didn't have a picture or anything on my profile.

Yeah you never give out your drivers license number as an American (or passport number, for international users), and especially not for some sketchy social media platform. It’s an easy way to get your credit stolen.

Maybe they let people block out their ID numbers on the license photos, but I doubt that the vast majority of users there would even bother.

Some governments do have eIDs, that work cross-border, that are designed for both the public and private sector, with emphasis on security (although there are bound to be serious problems). This is the case in many European Union countries, and it will apply at some point to the entire EU: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/trust...

From what I understand, the drivers license photo was required to have your account verified, someone was talking about this here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25730344

So it was a honeypot.

Stupidity is the most likely explanation, especially given literally everything else we know about their technical and legal approach. But I’ll agree that “it was a honeypot” conspiracies aren’t built entirely out of whole cloth.

If this twitter thread is right, it sure does look like honeypot

https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1327253991936454663?lang...

Schadenfreude non-withstanding, why didn’t more users see that as a massive red flag?

Because 90% of people or more literally don't care. I bet if Facebook started asking to submit the scan of your credit card + photo ID + birth certificate, a LOT of people would comply. We are creatures of comfort and very rarely logic.