We have laws and oversight surrounding phone surveillance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawful_interception

Just like you say, it still gets abused both within and outside the government (eg. Salt Typhoon) because surveillance inherently threatens society.

Shouldn't we get rid of phones then?

	▲	bigyabai 41 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		More to your point, shouldn't we arrest anyone without a phone? It's unfair that criminals can opt-out of surveillance, while Senators and CEOs cannot.