Elon Musk claims antitrust violation in App Store rankings
In a late-night post on August 11, Musk publicly challenged Apple's decision, writing on X: "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? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know."
Musk's AI startup, xAI, develops Grok. He alleged that Apple's practices were unfairly limiting competition in the AI space. "Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action," he wrote, without providing further details about the planned lawsuit.
Apple has not responded to Musk's accusations. The tech giant has faced increasing scrutiny over its App Store policies and alleged antitrust violations. In recent years, both U.S. and European regulators have taken action against the company.
In the United States, a federal judge recently ruled that Apple violated an injunction stemming from an antitrust case brought by Fortnite developer Epic Games. In Europe, the 27-nation European Union fined Apple 500 million euros in April for breaking competition rules by preventing app developers from directing users to cheaper options outside the App Store. Just last year, the EU also imposed a nearly US$2 billion fine, ruling that Apple unfairly favored its own music streaming service by blocking rivals such as Spotify from informing users about lower-cost subscription options available outside iPhone apps.
As of early August 12, the App Store's top five apps were TikTok, Tinder, Duolingo, YouTube, and Bumble. OpenAI's ChatGPT ranked seventh.
Despite Musk's claims that X is the world's top news app and Grok ranks fifth among all apps, neither is included in Apple's "Must Have" section—a curated list the company promotes to iOS users.
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