Elon Musk on August 11, accused Apple of antitrust violations, alleging the company prevents AI firms other than OpenAI from reaching the top of its App Store rankings.

He announced on X that xAI plans to take legal action against Apple.

Musk questioned why Apple’s App Store does not feature X or Grok, his companies’ apps, in its “Must Have” section.

This is despite X being the top news app and Grok ranking fifth among all apps.

Apple, xAI, and OpenAI have not responded publicly to the allegations.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Apple has faced multiple successful antitrust challenges before

This isn’t Apple’s first antitrust rodeo. The tech giant has a documented history of losing significant antitrust cases in court.

In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Apple Inc. v. Pepper that iPhone users could sue Apple directly for alleged monopolistic practices in the App Store, rejecting Apple’s argument that consumers were merely “indirect purchasers” 1.

Earlier, the Department of Justice successfully prosecuted Apple for e-book price fixing, with a federal court finding in 2013 that Apple orchestrated a conspiracy with five major publishers to eliminate price competition 2.

These precedents show that courts have previously been willing to hold Apple accountable for anticompetitive behavior, suggesting Musk’s legal threats aren’t automatically frivolous.

The Supreme Court’s Pepper decision specifically opened the door for more consumer lawsuits against Apple’s App Store practices, creating legal pathways that xAI could potentially leverage.

2️⃣ AI competition is attracting intense antitrust scrutiny from regulators

Musk’s allegations come at a time when U.S. antitrust regulators are increasingly focused on AI’s potential anticompetitive effects across the tech industry.

The DOJ and FTC have expressed clear intentions to monitor AI applications that may harm competition, with both agencies hiring AI experts to better understand market dynamics 3.

Recent Apple developments