Next to no one cares about the free signup. Get a second email account for free and sign up and have fun. If you don’t like it, it’s your choice, but seems like it isn’t a big deal to me.
The hard cases are out of the funnel.
Maybe that has merit?
Not that I'm advocating forced signups. Hate em. But, I can see the logic in play here.
It is not always seen as delicate.
Always ask yourself what is that signup/gate costing vs what is it gaining you. If you are losing X percentage of users for no identifiable gain, the question should be why is it there, not why should it be removed / why is it a big deal to somebody .