If Apple decides to remove Twitter from the App Store, Elon Musk has an easy strategy, to build his own smartphone.
Musk has changed a lot about Twitter since he joined at the end of October, including major staff cuts and firings that prompted managers in charge of data privacy and content moderation to resign.
In terms of content filtering, Musk fundamentally supports the right to free expression. Additionally, he apparently intends to attempt and make money for Twitter through explicit content. When Jack Dorsey was in charge, content filtering was more deliberate and concentrated on user 'safety,' outlawing obscenity, hate speech, and violence.
Musk tweeted on Friday night, "If Apple & Google expel Twitter from their app stores, @elonmusk should manufacture his own smartphone," in response to the conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. The prejudiced, snooping iPhone & Android would be cheerfully abandoned by half of the country. A foolish little smartphone ought to be simple for the man who makes rockets to Mars, right? ”
"I sincerely hope it never comes to that, but indeed, If there is no other option, I will develop an alternate phone," Musk said.
Phil Schiller, a senior Apple marketing executive that oversees the company's App Store, deactivated his Twitter account last week, which could be a terrible sign for Twitter. After Musk criticized Apple's fees on Twitter, calling them a hidden 30% tax on the internet, Schiller made the change.
