Elon Musk said he would make his own smartphone if Google and Apple were to ban Twitter from their app stores.
Musk said in a tweet responding to conservative podcaster Liz Wheeler that he hopes the situation does not come to that but that he will make that decision if necessary.
“I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone,” he said.
Wheeler first proposed the idea, saying that half of the country would “happily ditch the biased, snooping iPhone and Android.”
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“The man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?” she tweeted.
Musk, who has called himself a free speech “absolutist,” has expressed general opposition to indefinite bans of Twitter accounts and recently lifted bans on the handles of former President Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Many advertisers have fled from Twitter since Musk’s deal to acquire the platform went through last month. As a result, Musk cut nearly half of the staff, arguing that the company is hemorrhaging money.
Concerns have also bubbled up about a lack of content moderation and the reinstatement of banned users on the platform since the Tesla CEO’s takeover.
A flood of racist and antisemitic posts spread on the platform after Musk’s acquisition.
The billionaire also launched a paid verification subscription, where users would have to pay per month for the blue check mark beside their Twitter handle. However, problems arose when a series of users impersonated prominent figures on the platform. The program was halted as a result.
Musk posted a poll on Twitter on Wednesday to ask users if they believe the platform should offer amnesty to suspended accounts as long as they did not break any law or engage in “egregious spam.”
He restored Trump’s account last week after a narrow majority of users indicated in another poll that they support the former president’s suspension ending.
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