Elon Musk says he’s suing Apple for rigging App Store rankings
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is poised to launch immediate legal action against Apple, alleging the tech giant manipulates its App Store rankings to unfairly benefit rival AI applications. In a series of posts on X, Musk contended that Apple is “playing politics” by deliberately omitting both X and xAI’s Grok chatbot from the App Store’s list of recommended iOS apps, leaving him with “no choice” but to pursue a lawsuit.
Musk explicitly stated that Apple’s behavior “makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store,” which he branded as an “unequivocal antitrust violation.” He directly challenged Apple, questioning why X, which he claims is the world’s top news app, and Grok, ranked fifth among all apps, are excluded from the coveted “Must Have” section. This particular post has been pinned to his profile on X.
As of now, Musk has not provided any evidence to substantiate his claims, and it remains unclear whether the threatened lawsuit has actually been filed. While ChatGPT currently holds the top spot as Apple’s most downloaded free iPhone app in the U.S., with Grok positioned at number six, the assertion that it’s impossible for other AI apps to reach the pinnacle has already been contradicted. In January, China’s DeepSeek AI briefly surpassed ChatGPT to claim the leading position in the App Store, demonstrating that the top spot is not exclusively held by OpenAI.
The accusations of platform meddling from Musk carry a notable layer of irony, given the persistent allegations surrounding alterations made to X following his acquisition of the company, then known as Twitter, in 2022. A research study conducted in 2024 suggested that X’s algorithm was indeed manipulated to boost posts from Musk’s own account. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman further underscored this point by sharing a 2023 Platformer report, which similarly found that Musk had a system custom-built to promote his X posts across the entire user base. Moreover, the “maximally truth-seeking” Grok chatbot itself was found in June to be consulting Musk’s personal opinions before generating responses to contentious subjects such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, U.S. immigration policies, and abortion.
This latest legal threat is not an isolated incident but rather the newest chapter in Musk’s ongoing disputes with both Apple and OpenAI. As an early founder of OpenAI, Musk previously targeted the AI startup with lawsuits and a unanimously rejected $97.4 billion buyout offer, expressing strong disapproval of its strategic shift towards a profit-driven business model. More recently, following OpenAI’s partnership with Apple last year to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Musk issued a public threat to ban Apple devices across his various companies should OpenAI’s technology be fused with Apple’s operating systems.