Elon Musk has ‘alternative phone’ in mind when Apple and Google App Stores remove Twitter

Twitter boss Elon Musk says he would consider developing an “alternative phone” in case Twitter is removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Musk made the comments Friday night in response to conservative commenter Liz Wheeler, who tweeted, “If Apple and Google boot Twitter out of their app stores, @elonmusk should produce its own smartphone.” Half the country would like to get rid of the biased, snoopy iPhone and Android. The man is building rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?”

“I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that,” Musk replied, “but yes, if there is no other choice, I will build an alternative phone.”

Musk’s comments come after Phil Schiller, an Apple colleague responsible for running the App Store, deleted his Twitter account.

Yoel Roth, a former head of trust and safety at Twitter, said in a New York Times op-ed that the social media giant risks being banned from Apple’s and Google’s app stores if they don’t adhere to the keep guidelines.

“Failing to comply with Apple and Google’s policies would be catastrophic, risking Twitter’s ban from their app stores and making it harder for billions of potential users to obtain Twitter’s services. This gives Apple and Google tremendous power to affect the decisions Twitter makes,” Roth said.

Roth said by the time he left Twitter, “the calls from the app review teams had already begun.”

Musk tweeted a poll on Wednesday, asking Twitter users if the company should “offer a general amnesty for suspended accounts, provided they haven’t broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.”

72% of respondents voted yes, and Musk then tweeted that “amnesty begins next week.”