Elon Musk Says He'll Make A Smartphone If Twitter Is Booted From Apple And Google App Stores Over Content Moderation Concerns

Elon Musk hinted at the idea in response to a tweet by podcaster Liz Wheeler who slammed the push by left-wing activists to get Apple and Google to remove Twitter from their app stores.

"If Apple & Google boot Twitter from their app stores, @elonmusk should produce his own smartphone," Wheeler wrote on Friday. "Half the country would happily ditch the biased, snooping iPhone & Android. The man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?"

To which Musk replied: “I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone.”

Since the Tesla CEO took over Twitter, left-wing activists, politicians, groups and governments bureaucrats have been smearing him for trying to relax the censorship regime from the social media company's previous management. They have recently started campaigning to get Twitter removed from the App Store and Play Store.

In a recent passive-aggressive New York Times op-ed, Twitter’s disgruntled former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, insinuated that Musk's push for more free speech could affect the social media's future in the app stores: “Twitter will have to balance its new owner’s goals against the practical realities of life on Apple’s and Google’s internet…" he wrote. "And as I departed the company, the calls from the app review teams had already begun.”

Social media network Parler was temporarily booted from both app stores following the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. And Truth Social was initially rejected from Google’s Play Store, until it agreed to comply with Google’s content moderation guidelines.

Twitter recently reinstated Donald Trump's account. The former president has not tweeted, but leftists are having a meltdown online over the reinstatement.

In a tweet on Friday, Musk defended his move to reinstate the former president’s account, writing: “I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America.”

Following a Twitter poll he conducted this week in which about 72% agreed, Musk announced that he'll be reinstating the accounts of all previously banned users of the platform, next week.

Elaborating on the plan to reinstate previously banned accounts, Musk in reply to a tweet, wrote: "Currently suspended accounts will be enabled slowly next week after manual review to determine whether they have potentially broken the law or engaged in spam. Twitter will be a forum for the peaceful exchange of views."

Disgraced left-wing podcaster Sam Harris was roundly mocked online, after he deleted his account to protest Musk's decision to reinstate banned accounts.