If we are talking about any type of android phone outside of very specific/obscure models, this is misleading. Although android is technically free software, real world phones are compromised by both carriers (e.g. Verizon) and manufacturers (e.g. Samsung).

You may be able to sideload apps, but you're still limited to the few APIs that they allow you to use, while these corporations still have the keys to the root account. Even if you own the phone, you can't get around these controls.

even if the low-level bare-bones distribution of android is free software, the vendors almost always tack on garbage that makes it completely compromised. It's like "I may be in a prison but the fair-trade handcuffs are made by a B corporation so I'm happy"