Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted about launching his own smartphone and operating system in the ‘unlikely’ event that Google and Apple Inc. remove Twitter from their app store.
The development was confirmed by Musk on Saturday (November 26) in response to a tweet by an American conservative political commentator, Liz Wheeler. “If Apple & Google boot Twitter from their app stores, @elonmusk should produce his own smartphone,” she tweeted.
“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?” Wheeler inquired.
I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
While Elon Musk hoped that Twitter is not removed from the Google play store or the Apple store, the new owner of the micro-blogging platform informed that he will make an alternative phone if such a situation presented itself.
“I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone,” he wrote. It must be mentioned that Google had earlier removed a conservative social media site named ‘Parler’ in the aftermath of the Capitol Hill siege on January 6, 2020.
Although launched in 2018, Parler grew in prominence after the ouster of Donald Trump from Twitter. In a statement, Google justified its decision to remove Parlier from its app store.
In a statement, the social media giant said, “All developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in recent months. We’re aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the U.S.”
However, in September 2022, Google reinstated the Parler app on its play store.
The Background of the Controversy
On Thursday (November 24), leftist media outlet The Washington Post published a propaganda piece by its columnist, Taylor Lorenz wherein it tried to cast aspersions about the safety of users on Twitter.
Using Elon Musk’s decision to revive previously banned Twitter handles as a troupe, the article appealed to tech giants such as Google and Apple to boot the micro-blogging site out of its app stores.
“Elon Musk plans to reinstate nearly all previously banned Twitter accounts — to the alarm of activists and online trust and safety experts,” it claimed.
“The mass return of users who had been banned for such offenses as violent threats, harassment and misinformation will have a significant impact on the platform, experts said,” the article further added.
Citing one Alejandra Caraballo, The Washington Post article suggested that Twitter should be removed from the app stores of both Google and Apple. “Apple and Google need to seriously start exploring booting Twitter off the app store,” it quoted her as saying.
The CEO of satirical news website Babylon Bee, Seth Dillon, pointed out how the so-called “clinical instructor at Harvard Law’s cyberlaw clinic” had been calling for violent action to intimidate dissidents into silence.
The same person who used this platform to call for violence against sitting Supreme Court justices is now quoted in the Washington Post urging Apple and Google to boot Twitter from the app store because what @elonmusk is doing is dangerous.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) November 25, 2022
You can’t make this stuff up. pic.twitter.com/qT3Nn2Rvlp
“The same person who used this platform to call for violence against sitting Supreme Court justices is now quoted in the Washington Post urging Apple and Google to boot Twitter from the app store because what Elon Musk is doing is dangerous,” he added.
Caraballo continued to use Twitter to cast aspersions about its safety while asking for it to be de-platformed. Elon Musk had responded to her allegations and assured that those found guilty of inciting violence will be suspended.
Incitement to violence will result in account suspension.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
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.
“Incitement to violence will result in account suspension. 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,” he had emphasised.
Nonetheless, The Washington Post found a way to way to label Twitter as a potential ‘free-for-all hellscape’, linking it to the Club Q shootings and turning the site into an “engine of radicalisation.”
