I tried signing up a few weeks ago and definitely seemed like I was being forced to either connect SMS or backup email before I could create an account. So I didn't make one. If these things are optional they do not make it clear how to bypass that step.
Last time I tried to sign up, "captcha" was not an option, leaving only privacy-invalidating options. It might be dynamic. The criteria for them not displaying "captcha" as an option is unclear.
