Musk called Apple’s App Store rankings an “unequivocal antitrust violation” in a post on his social-media platform X on Monday night and threatened “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,” he said in the post.

In a statement to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple insisted the App Store "is designed to be fair and free of bias," noting that it features “thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria” to ensure safe discovery for users and opportunities for developers.

The response comes after Musk threatened to sue Apple via xAI, claiming the iPhone maker was “behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store.