Elon Musk Threatens Legal Action Against Apple Over Alleged Antitrust Violations on App Store Rankings for xAI's Grok

Elon Musk threatens legal action against Apple over alleged antitrust violations related to the App Store's rankings of his company xAI's AI chatbot, Grok. Musk accuses Apple of behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for Grok to be discovered by users, which he believes is a violation of antitrust laws.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has threatened legal action against Apple (AAPL) over alleged antitrust violations related to the App Store's rankings of his company's AI chatbot, Grok. Musk, through his social media platform X, accused Apple of favoring OpenAI's ChatGPT, making it impossible for Grok to be discovered by users, which he believes is a violation of antitrust laws.

In a series of posts on X on Monday, Musk stated that Apple's App Store practices are an "unequivocal antitrust violation" and that his AI startup, xAI, would take "immediate legal action" against Apple. He specifically criticized Apple's refusal to place either X or Grok in its "Must Have" section, despite X being the number one news app globally and Grok ranking fifth among all apps [1].

Apple's App Store reserves the right to highlight certain apps based on a combination of factors, including quality, innovation, user experience, and technical excellence. However, Musk argues that the current practices are biased and favor established AI companies like OpenAI over innovative challengers. He also questioned whether Apple's actions are politically motivated [2].

This is not the first time Apple has faced legal challenges over its App Store operations. In April, a federal judge in California ruled that Apple had violated a court order to reform its App Store for greater competition in app downloads and payment methods. This order stemmed from a high-profile antitrust suit in 2021 filed by Epic Games over Apple's monopoly on the distribution of iOS apps [3].

Musk's move comes as he pushes to promote xAI and its AI bot, Grok, which debuted as a standalone app in March. The App Store has been no stranger to controversies, with developers long accusing Apple of charging high fees and having restrictive rules. Several regulators are investigating the company's app distribution practices [2].

References:
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/tech/elon-musk-threat-sue-apple-xai-app-intl-hnk
[2] https://stocktwits.com/news-articles/markets/equity/elon-musk-goes-after-apple-for-not-featuring-x-grok-prominently-on-app-store-are-you-playing-politics/chrDoeBRdeA
[3] https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-accuses-apple-antitrust-violation-012050817.html