Elon Musk sets terms for Tesla’s entry into smartphone business on Joe Rogan's podcast: "Started doing bad things"

Elon Musk made a surprise appearance on the popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on the eve of the United States presidential elections. He expressed the conditions it would take for him to create a Tesla smartphone.

Speaking to host Joe Rogan on episode #2223 of JRE, the Tesla and X CEO claimed that only the actions of Apple or Google could get him into the phone business, stating:

"No, we're not doing a phone. We could do a phone. The operating system of Tesla, it's Linux based, but we've written a massive amount of software on top of that. So, probably Tesla is in a better position to create a new phone that's not Android or iPhone than maybe any company in the world, but it's not something we want to do unless we have to or something."

When asked what situation would make him feel like he had to, Musk responded:

"I think, if Apple and Google/Android started doing really bad things, like, I don't know, censorship of apps or, I don't know, just treating people - just being like gatekeepers. That in a really bad way then, I guess, we would make a phone."

Check out Elon Musk's comments below (1:33:21):

Rogan added that he has tried breaking away from iPhones, but he is unable to leave behind iMessage and FaceTime. He shared that the reported ability to FaceTime Android phones did not work. Finally, the UFC commentator noted that having to use different apps to video call is inconvenient.

Check out the full episode of JRE below:

---

Elon Musk weighs in on free speech in the United States

Elon Musk voiced his concerns with free speech in the United States during his latest appearance on JRE. The Tesla CEO noted that his concerns with the first amendment led him to spend $44 billion to purchase X, then-known as Twitter, in 2022.

Speaking to host Joe Rogan, Musk claimed:

"At the time I said, look, I think this is existential to the United States. It's existential to democracy. Because if you don't have freedom of speech, you don't have democracy. Okay, because if you don't have freedom of speech, people can not make an informed vote. If they're just being fed propaganda and there's no freedom of speech, democracy is an illusion.

"So, freedom of speech is the bed rock of democracy. That's why freedom of speech is the first amendment. Once you lose freedom of speech, you lose democracy. Game over. That's why I bought Twitter."

Check out Elon Musk's comments on freedom of speech below (1:51:19):

Musk has publicly voiced his concerns regarding free speech in the United States. However, it should be noted that the first amendment protects citizens from legal prosecution for their speech and can not be repealed.

While he spent much of the lead-up to the election campaigning for Donald Trump, citing free speech as his motive, the Tesla CEO has faced backlash for banning accounts for their speech.