On November 5, Elon Musk was a guest on Joe Rogan's podcast. Here, the Tesla CEO discussed many issues such as video games, the acquisition of Twitter, censorship, freedom of speech...

When rumors of Tesla making a phone were mentioned, Musk immediately denied: "No, we are not making a phone." According to the billionaire, although he has an advantage over any other company in creating a new phone that is not Android or iPhone, "it is not something we want, unless we have to."

The unthinkable scenario Musk is referring to is if Apple and Google start censoring apps or acting as “gatekeepers.” Right now, Tesla is all-in on electric cars, self-driving cars, and robots. He also added that making phones would be exhausting.

Musk’s stance on phone production has been unpredictable. For example, he first mentioned it in November 2022, after buying Twitter (now X), amid concerns about the platform’s fate on mainstream app stores.

In June, he announced in a livestream on X that Tesla would not make a phone. Two days later, on June 11, he said it was “not impossible” that X would partner with another smartphone brand to make a phone running a custom open-source operating system.

He then went on to explain that Tesla could make phones but hoped it would “not be necessary” to do so.

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The post about Tesla making a $299 phone has been removed by Facebook. Screenshot.

Recently, a Facebook account named Haley Fox posted an article with the content that Elon Musk affirmed " The $299 Tesla Phone will be the end of the iPhone". Accordingly, this phone model will connect to the Internet satellite, charge itself with sunlight, control cars, houses... The article attracted more than 26,000 interactions before being marked as fake news and removed by Meta, according to the independent information verification organization PolitiFact.

“No sources have been found to corroborate the claim that Musk said this. It does not appear in any credible news or public statement from Musk or Tesla. The phone does not appear on Tesla’s website,” PolitiFact said.

PolitiFact is a partner of Meta and TikTok in preventing the spread of misinformation. Under this relationship, Meta and TikTok “flag” articles that they believe may be inaccurate or misleading. PolitiFact then reviews the article and provides feedback to the platform on its accuracy. The final decision on the article rests with TikTok and Meta.

(According to Benzinga, PolitiFact)