I am experiencing such banning of providers right now. It is a whack-a-mole, seems futile. Not to mention that most people use sketchy free noname VPNs that are just too numerous. Or apparently some people set up basic XRay/VLESS/whatever and sell it via a Telegram bot...

I cannot imagine spending $1000 on a phone in general. And even more so, I cannot imagine spending $1000 on a phone I cannot even sideload something like Newpipe on.

Since you are seemingly wealthy enough for this - maybe Pixel with GrapheneOS would be a right fit for you? Pixels also have longer support now (although I still think it's very short, so I'd likely have to switch to Lineage afterwards).

I just assumed they operated by collecting and selling user data. So while I knew the business model was unethical, I didn't expect them to get more creative!

DivestOS is a modified version of Android. Mull is an Android browser, fork of Firefox, maintained by the Divest dev.

I thought it was just collecting and selling user data but while I'd bet it's still happening - wow, this is way craftier.

• Do not upload pictures of your face ANYWHERE, period - including private chats
• Do not use any name even resembling your real one, or rederencing your known interests
• If something asks for a phone number, avoid using it
• If it is mandatory (like for government services) or very hard not to use (like Whatsapp or Telegram), ask the parent first, maybe there is an aliasing solution
• If the data sharing is mandatory, try digging deeper for alternative options because it may turn out to be not so mandatory
• Do not post anything political or even remotely questionable in the current climate (should be talked about with the parent), and must understand you can be arrested for pretty much anything and be made an example of
• Each time an application is installed, think about what data it is able to access, pay attention to permissions
• Prefer FOSS programs for everything possible
• Learn to treat a Windows PC or a non-degoogled phone as a fundentally unprivate device and learn to not trust them with personal things (if I were a parent, I'd install a privacy-preserving OS on a device prior to giving it to a kid anyway)

I am looking forward to more non-tech communities.

remember kids, not your keys, not your coins

"And the government officials can sell this data to me. Relatively inexpensive too".

If I can't add your passkey to my local KeepassXC database, I am not using your passkey.

I really doubt an average Joe would buy a new computer once the old OS goes end-of-life. Joe would just continue using an EOL system and hope everything is alright.

Exactly. What's annoying are oblivious people, who are the majority in every single generation.