Musk threatens legal action against Apple
Claims antitrust violations over App Store rankings
By: Surbhi Misra
Reuters
..... Billionaire Elon Musk said on August 11 [2025] his artificial intelligence startup xAI would take legal action against Apple, accusing the iPhone maker of breaching antitrust regulations in managing App Store rankings.
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"Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides Open AI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action," Musk said in a post on his social media platform X.
..... Apple has a partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads and Macs.
..... Musk did not provide evidence to support his claim. Apple, OpenAI and xAI did not respond to request for comment.
..... OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk on August 11. [2025] "this is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like," he said on X.
..... OpenAI's ChatCPT currently holds the top spot in the App Store's "Top Fee Apps" section in the United States, while xAI's Grok rants fifth.
..... "Hey @ Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your 'Must Have' section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is $5 among all apps? Are you playing politics?" Musk said in an earlier post on August 11. [2025]
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Users on X - through the community notes features - have pointed out that a few apps besides OpenAI takes the top spot on the App Store this year. [2025]
..... Chinese AI app DeepSeek reached the Number 1 spot on the platform in January, [2025] while in July, [2025] Perplexity took first place in India's App Store - both occurring after the OpenAI and Apple partnership struck last year. [2024]
..... Musk's comments come as regulators and rivals intensify scrutiny of Apple's control over its App Store.
..... Earlier this year, [2025] Apple was ordered to pay a find of 500 million euros ($581.15 million) by the EU antitrust enforcer, which said the company's restrictions prevent developers from steering users outside the App Store.