Musk accuses Apple of favoring OpenAI and threatens antitrust lawsuit

Musk accuses Apple of favoring OpenAI and threatens antitrust lawsuit

Date : August 11, 2025
By Wesley Hilliard

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Event Summary

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and the X platform (formerly Twitter), accused Apple of violating antitrust regulations by favoring ChatGPT and OpenAI in the App Store while ignoring his Grok AI and X apps . He stated that xAI would "immediately take legal action."

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Musk's main accusations

1. Unfair ranking and exposure

   • X ranks first in the App Store's "News" free app category and 38th in overall free app ranking.
   • Grok ranks 6th among all free apps and 2nd in the "Productivity" category (second only to ChatGPT).
   • Musk said that even with these rankings, Apple still wouldn't let Grok or X reach the top, and prominently promoted ChatGPT in the "essential apps" area while not promoting his product.

2. Partiality and Restrictions

   • Musk said that Apple's collaboration with OpenAI (integrating ChatGPT into iOS) is biased and prevents other AI companies from competing fairly.
   • He advocates that users should be able to freely choose AI, such as choosing Grok instead of ChatGPT.
   • It is not clear whether Apple refuses to communicate with xAI or xAI is unwilling to comply with Apple's strict privacy regulations.

3. Human recommended absence

   • In the App Store featured section, TikTok, Tinder, Duolingo, YouTube and ChatGPT were heavily promoted.
   • Grok didn’t appear in any of the curated focus areas, and X wasn’t featured in the “essential social apps” or news categories.

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Background and Controversy

• X's positioning controversy :

  • X is classified as a news app, but in fact it is mostly social media content. Active users have declined since Musk took over, and some studies have shown that most of the traffic comes from robot accounts.
  • Some believe that placing X in the news category is a strategic move to avoid direct competition with social giants such as Threads, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook.

• Grok's case :

  • Although it has caused controversy due to the "Mecha Hitler" incident, it still maintains a high ranking in the App Store, beyond the circle of Musk's core supporters.

• Ranking mechanism :

  • The article points out that the App Store rankings are purely calculated based on data, and Apple does not manipulate the numbers.

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Historical friction with Apple

Musk has clashed with Apple several times in the past, including:

• Criticism of Apple's partnership with OpenAI.
• Complaining that Apple doesn't use his Starlink satellite service .
• Protest against Apple's suspension of X advertising (later reinstated under government pressure).
• Criticizing Apple's 30% app commission policy.

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Apple's stance

• Apple has no obligation to promote X or Grok.
• The controversial nature of these apps and their communities may have led Apple's editorial team to choose not to include them in the featured section.
• Apple has the right to choose who to cooperate with or promote in the free market.

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Article Comments

• Some people pointed out that Musk asked Apple to open its platform, but Tesla vehicles refused to support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto , raising questions about double standards.
• Some also believe that if Apple treats third-party companies unequally in the App Store, it may constitute legitimate grounds for antitrust litigation.

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Key points table