Try deleting your account, that should solve the problem

Delete it, then embrace the fediverse through Pixelfed and Loops.

Facebook/Meta (the owners of Instagram) have been extorting phone numbers and IDs from people for years. They don't target everyone all at once, but a few hundred here, a few hundred there. I don't know if they do it for all new accounts, but the practice is definitely not new.

This is one of the many reasons why I stopped using their services.

As far as I know, Meta has been demanding that info for a long while.

They want to make money with your data. No surprises here.

If you need an account there, buy an already verified one, they go for less than a dollar

Pixelfed

Refusing an app, like Instagram, is easy way to make others ask you:

Why don't you have Instagram?

1. It's not libre software.

Libre software?

2. We don't control it (it's missing a libre software licence text file, like GPL).

What do you use?

3. We can talk on

Why?

4. It can't rape our phones. We control it.

Also, be popular, make others want to talk to you.

It's been happening for a few months, my theory was that in the runup to the election it was their only idea for CYA about bots, and it just so happens to mean they're using facial recognition scanning to catalog the real humans on their platform.