Tech billionaire Elon Musk is preparing for legal action against Apple, accusing the tech giant of unfairly excluding his apps from its top recommended list. Musk, who owns SpaceX, Tesla, social media platform X, and AI company xAI, claims Apple is ignoring both X and its AI chatbot Grok despite their global popularity.
In a series of posts on X, Musk questioned why Apple has not included X in its “Must Have” section, even though it is ranked as the number one news app worldwide. Grok, according to Musk, holds the fifth position among all apps. He suggested that Apple’s decision might be politically motivated and hinted at possible antitrust violations.
Musk further alleged that Apple’s App Store rules create an environment where only OpenAI’s ChatGPT can dominate AI app rankings. He stated that his AI company, xAI, will take immediate legal steps against what he considers unfair competition.
Apple has not commented on the allegations. The company has faced multiple antitrust cases in recent years. Earlier, a U.S. judge found Apple in violation of a court order in a lawsuit brought by Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite.
In Europe, regulators fined Apple €500 million this year for blocking developers from guiding users to cheaper options outside the App Store. Last year, the EU issued a nearly $2 billion fine, accusing Apple of favoring its own music streaming service over competitors like Spotify.
As of Tuesday, the App Store’s top five apps were TikTok, Tinder, Duolingo, YouTube, and Bumble, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT was in seventh place.
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