Apple defends App Store as fair after Musk alleges bias

Apple has pushed back against Elon Musk’s latest accusations, in which he claimed the App Store deliberately keeps AI apps from companies other than OpenAI out of the top rankings.

Musk alleged on X that neither the X social network nor the Grok chatbot appear in Apple’s "Must Have" section, even as competing services enjoy prominent placement. He said the company was "playing politics" and announced xAI would take "immediate legal action."

Apple, in a statement, dismissed the idea of favoritism:

We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria.

The company also noted that its aim is to make app discovery safe and useful for users, while offering developers more opportunities for visibility, especially in fast-growing categories.

Musk did not provide evidence to support his claims. Meanwhile, recent history shows non-OpenAI AI products have topped the App Store charts, including China’s DeepSeek, which briefly overtook ChatGPT in January, and Perplexity, which hit #1 in India’s App Store in July, months after Apple and OpenAI announced their partnership.

Despite Musk’s frustration, Grok is currently fifth overall and second in Productivity, even after launching Grok 4 for free, Apple maintains its ranking system is transparent and unbiased.

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Durov's CodeIgor Savkin