CEO of X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, lashed out on Apple in a social media rant for refusing to put his apps in its ‘Must Have’ section. Accusing the tech giant of having a bias and favouring OpenAI in the ranking, Musk threatened legal action from xAI. However, bashing the allegation of an antitrust violation, Apple clarified its stance.
Issuing a statement, Apple rejected Musk’s overt claims and said that, “The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias,” reported Bloomberg. Apple pointed towards objective data and algorithmic factors that governed the ranking and claimed it was “objective criteria”. Repeatedly emphasising “safe discovery” in the Musk-Cook dispute, Apple told Bloomberg that their “goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories.”
However, the ‘safe’ remark from Apple has been speculated to be a hint towards Grok’s uncensored and racist remarks under posts that even glorified Hitler’s genocide.
Musk’s social media rant
Among many posts Musk made on X, the billionaire exaggerated his allegations towards Apple. He claimed that the firm was “behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI” to reach the number one ranked application in the App Store. Musk then threatened the company with a lawsuit, which was based on an ‘unequivocal antitrust violation,’ however, it has not seen fruition yet.
Musk’s frustration rose after Grok 4 was made free, and the app managed to reach the ranking of fifth overall. On the other hand, OpenAI’s ChatGPT with in-app purchases topped the charts.
This comes after a long-standing spat between Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman. The ChatGPT parent CEO accused X of being biased and alleged manipulation. Following this, the Tesla boss made a series of posts to settle the ongoing tech feud, questioning the trustworthiness of the two. All three popular AI chatbots, Grok, ChatGPT5 Pro, and Gemini answered ‘Elon Musk’.
