Lmao, it can be achieved in better ways; they can just use a ZKP FLOSS captcha (such as Anubis, but adapted for native apps, there are some), or manual verification (such as most XMPP or Matrix instances, and even more general online services providers such as Disroot [this one uses Anubis AND manual email verification for the signup process, then only Anubis]).

They’re shady asf, and now are being exclusionary towards these who can’t pay? Hell naw, fuck 'em