(Singapore, Nov 28 2022) Elon Musk has plans to make his own phone if his Twitter app is banned by Apple and Google, according to the social media posts over the weekend.
The Tesla CEO made the remarks while responding to a hypothetical scenario — where both Apple and Google “boot Twitter from their app stores” — by American conservative commentator Liz Wheeler.
(Source: Twitter)
While tweeting the question on Nov 26, Wheeler suggested that Musk should produce his own smartphone, saying that “half the country” would ditch their “biased, snooping” iPhones and Android phones.
“The man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?” Wheeler tweeted.
Musk responded to her tweet: “I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone”
In addition to the mass layoffs, the world’s richest man has also said that he wanted to facilitate open dialogue between citizens with differing opinions.
He has taken a different approach from his predecessor by opting to reinstate Twitter accounts that were previously banned, including the account of former United States President Donald Trump.
Trump’s account was banned over concerns it was used to spread misinformation.
Both Apple and Google have history of taking action against apps which they deemed to have inadequate protections against certain forms of speech.
One of such examples is social media app Parler, which was banned for months on both app stores over how it involved in the Capitol riots in January 2021.
Truth Social, which was created by Trump and his supporters after the former president’s ban from Twitter, was also banned from Google’s app store as it hosted violent threats and other content against Google’s standards.
