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They may want proof that you, the human filling out this form, are authorized to publish apps, communications, etc. as the company you say you represent.
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How does a passport solve that? Most small private companies are entirely opaque. A government ID doesn't help you determine authorization. It won't even help you determine ownership since anyone doing things sensibly will be using a registered agent to hold the company on his behalf.

The correct approach here (AFAIK) is to punt the trust decision to the bank by requiring payment with a method that you can confidently trace to the company.

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Yeah I would imagine that the value the get out of a passport is not anything to do with validating a company (they’re cheap and easy to make anyway) but validating the person (which is not a throwaway entity)
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Fair point.

However that invites those bad scenarios where someone gets blacklisted by BigTech in some manner, later gets hired by a small business, the new employer adds an association to the blacklisted account, and suddenly the company app is banned from the app store seemingly without reason. At least a few such stories have appeared on HN over the years.

I feel like pay to play ought to be sufficient because in addition to being a barrier to entry it also provides funds for moderation efforts.

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It’s entirely ordinary to carry on a business as a sole trader.

That is you, for tax and legal purposes in the jurisdictions within which you reside, an individual, operating a business by yourself as yourself.

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