How do you verify if a phone number is linked to social media?

I’ve noticed that verifying whether a phone number is connected to a social media account can be surprisingly tricky.

For personal use, hiring, or even security checks, people often end up searching platform-by-platform, which can take a lot of time — and still miss results.

I’m curious:

• Have you ever had to verify a phone number’s social media presence?

• What’s the method or tool you’ve found most effective?

• Are there privacy or ethical concerns you think should be considered when doing this?

For context, I’m part of a small team exploring ways to automate this process to make it faster and more accurate, but I’d love to hear how others currently approach it.

Looking forward to your thoughts and experiences.