The title (currently "A Facebook account is no longer required to use Meta VR devices (oculus.com)" which is not the title of the article) is specifically written to get the attention of that Facebook-distrusting group and in that way is explicitly and I believe intentionally misleading.
Sure, require an account to do purchases through their online store, that makes sense. But why on earth do you need an account to use an unconnected piece of hardware? I don't need to log in to an account to use my monitor, mouse, keyboard, or joystick.
EDIT, answering my own question:
The only reason these accounts are required is that Facebook wants to pretend Oculus is not just the HMD but also the whole "ecosystem" including the store, their toxic social media properties, and their ridiculous metaverse. I don't buy into this fantasy of theirs, and will never buy another Oculus until they are treated as dumb displays.
But the bigger issue here is that this account is owned by the company formerly known as Facebook, and that company has given me absolutely zero reason to trust them with any data whatsoever. I don't mind having a Steam account, because Valve hasn't had scandal after scandal of them abusing user data in egregious ways.
Any real examples? Scandal after scandal implies there should be many, but in recent memory I can't think of FB directly abusing user data besides it being repeated as truth on HN.
