As title says. I haven’t used my Google account for more than 3 months. Prior to abandoning my Google account, I unlinked my phone number, deleted my recovery email, and logged out every device. I also never had 2FA TOTP setup.
Today I tried logging in and it won’t let me. See video. Apparently, providing my login credentials doesn’t prove that the account belongs to me. And no, I won’t give them my phone number again to login.
I hate Google
Well they want to prove who you are because a Google account is the central part of someone's online life. I'd imagine that binning off all that info quickly looked really suspicious and flagged something on their systems. They can't just let that slide because of the possible implications, someone might use that email as their bank account login or maybe it's linked to something really personal.
Is it out of the goodness of their hearts? Hell no, it's entirely to cover their asses from liability for damages.