Elon Musk has opened a fresh front in his ongoing feud with Big Tech.This time he’s targeting Apple.
On Monday night, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO accused the iPhone maker of antitrust violations, claiming its App Store policies put his AI chatbot Grok, developed by xAI, at a disadvantage compared to rivals, particularly OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “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,” Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter). “xAI will take immediate legal action.”
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. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2025
Musk didn’t elaborate on the legal strategy or confirm whether a lawsuit is already in motion. But his public offensive had begun earlier in the evening, as if he were building a case before a jury.
“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?” he wrote in another post. “Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know.”
A quick check by Gizmodo found that ChatGPT is currently the No. 1 free app in the U.S. iOS App Store and the only AI chatbot featured in Apple’s “Must-Have Apps” section.
Musk sees that as evidence of bias, and he’s tying it to Apple’s deeper ties with OpenAI. “And why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control?” he added in yet another post.
Apple and OpenAI announced a partnership in June 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs through Siri and system-wide writing tools. The deal gave OpenAI’s chatbot unprecedented visibility and direct access to hundreds of millions of Apple users.
And why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2025
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left the company three years later after a falling-out, has since become one of its fiercest critics. His AI company, xAI, launched Grok in late 2023, branding it as an “edgy” alternative to mainstream chatbots. Grok is integrated directly into X, the social platform Musk acquired in 2022.
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