Elon Musk is asking in one other return on his funding in American politics: he’s threatening Apple with a lawsuit as a result of neither X nor xAI’s Grok have been really helpful on the iOS App Retailer. How critical this risk is — nicely, that’s arduous to say, because it was posted between Grok-generated waifus.
“Hey @Apple App Retailer, why do you refuse to place both X or Grok in your ‘Should Have’ part when X is the #1 information app on this planet and Grok is #5 amongst all apps?,” he whined, in a publish which was briefly pinned to his profile.
Musk, the CEO of xAI and considered one of God’s sorest winners, isn’t content material with how nicely his apps are doing within the retailer. He desires an Apple endorsement, too. If you’re unfamiliar with the App Retailer, to begin with, congratulations. However second, there are parts of it which are editorially curated, with the shop recommending sure apps as “necessities,” in addition to “editors’ selection.” Musk’s apps nonetheless seem on the charts — they simply aren’t getting boosted by Apple itself on the entrance web page of the iOS App Retailer.
That is fairly brazen gangster conduct
Apple is, in some sense, splash injury in Musk’s ongoing beef with OpenAI. “Apple is behaving in a way that makes it inconceivable for any AI firm in addition to OpenAI to achieve #1 within the App Retailer, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” Musk said in another post.
Now the usage of “antitrust violation” right here caught my eye. Apple has some important antitrust motion round its App Retailer, a few of which I’ve witnessed firsthand. Moreover the case introduced by Epic over Fortnite — the US Supreme Courtroom declined to weigh in, and Fortnite largely misplaced however did get again into the US App Retailer — the Justice Division has introduced antitrust motion over iPhone lock-in.
It’s additionally not the primary time Musk has used “antitrust” as an excuse to tie a perceived nemesis up within the court docket system. As a part of the aforementioned OpenAI beef, Musk has claimed that OpenAI and Microsoft have tried to “monopolize the generative AI market” by utilizing exclusivity agreements with traders when elevating capital, refusing to let xAI license OpenAI’s tech due to the Microsoft exclusivity settlement, and “lock[ing] down” AI expertise.
That is fairly brazen gangster conduct — gangster tech regulation, to be extra exact. Certain, Musk and Trump aren’t as shut as they as soon as had been, however Musk didn’t pay all that cash to get Trump elected for nothing. If Musk does file swimsuit, and does so in a pleasant court docket — maybe that of Tesla shareholder Reed O’Connor, the choose within the Northern District of Texas — the authorized strain might result in some concessions. It does appear that barely disguised extortion has been fashionable lately among the many proper wing.
Musk’s apps appear to fly within the face of App Retailer tips
In response to Musk’s provocation, Apple mentioned that the App Retailer is “designed to be honest and freed from bias … we function 1000’s of apps by means of charts, algorithmic suggestions and curated lists chosen by specialists utilizing goal standards,” an Apple spokesperson, who wasn’t named, informed Bloomberg.
That’s apparent horseshit, however not in the best way Musk claims.
Let’s simply go to Musk’s apps, which I think are at the moment in violation of Apple’s guidelines. Take Grok, as an illustration. Apple lately removed three apps that made deepfake nudes, presumably as a result of they created nonconsensual photos. Grok, put in “spicy” mode, will create topless Taylor Swift photos, even when it’s not straight prompted to take action. (Google’s Veo and OpenAI’s Sora have some protections in place to forestall this sort of factor; how good they’re is a separate matter.)
There may be additionally the matter of X, the artist previously often known as Twitter. Since Musk’s takeover, it has encountered a wide range of moderation issues, together with however not restricted to: child sexual abuse material (yes, still), graphic animal torture videos, and hate speech. (That is to say nothing of Musk’s personal private antisemitic posting.)
Each apps appear to fly within the face of the App Retailer tips, which say that “apps shouldn’t embody content material that’s offensive, insensitive, upsetting, meant to disgust, in exceptionally poor style, or simply plain creepy.” Examples embody “overtly sexual or pornographic materials;” “lifelike portrayals of individuals or animals being killed, maimed, tortured, or abused;” and “defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content material, together with references or commentary about faith, race, sexual orientation, gender, nationwide/ethnic origin, or different focused teams, notably if the app is prone to humiliate, intimidate, or hurt a focused particular person or group.”
Regardless of all these flagrant violations of App Retailer insurance policies, Apple has not eliminated Grok or X
Any social media web site that depends on user-generated content material goes to have some issues adhering to those tips, which is why lots of them have — or, I suppose I ought to say, had — strong moderation. And Twitter was arguably in violation of App Retailer tips earlier than Musk purchased it, as Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg famous. (Tumblr, after all, has had its personal moderation woes in making an attempt to adjust to Apple’s practices.)
When Musk purchased Twitter, moderation went out the window. That additionally created a misinformation drawback, which is especially pronounced when it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, and arguably violates one other of Apple’s guidelines banning “dangerous ideas which capitalize or search to revenue on current or present occasions, equivalent to violent conflicts.”
Grok doesn’t even have the excuse of moderation or user-generated content material; it’s making the violating content material all by itself.
Regardless of all these flagrant violations of App Retailer insurance policies, Apple has not eliminated Grok or X from the shop. Certainly, it resumed advertising on X in February, after pulling adverts for a yr in response to Musk’s posts.
When you present you’re prepared to pay a bribe, the asks don’t stop
So whereas Musk has a degree that Apple unfairly preferences some apps, it’s his personal apps that profit. And Apple is de facto solely in a tricky spot as a result of it’s Musk throwing a tantrum. In spite of everything, it’s not clear that there’s a direct antitrust argument right here. Antitrust legal guidelines generally target the market power of a firm — ones that suppress competitors. So in follow, if Apple is preferencing its personal apps within the App Retailer editorial sections, that could be an antitrust violation. Anticompetitive agreements — like Google shopping for desire in Safari’s search to forestall Apple from making its personal search engine — would even be honest sport. There’s no proof any such settlement exists with OpenAI, though the 2 firms do have a partnership. Certainly, given Grok’s proclivity for superstar nudes, it appears likelier that Apple is selling the AI app that doesn’t make a bunch of bare Taylors Swift.
But when there’s one factor Musk loves doing, it’s tying folks up in infinite litigation. It’s unlikely {that a} noisome Musk swimsuit, like the one he filed against Media Matters, will threaten Apple as a going concern. It may well, nevertheless, result in embarrassing in-court admissions, function a headache and distraction, and in any other case typically be a nuisance. And if Musk nonetheless has any sway within the Justice Division, his enmity would possibly make the DOJ extra aggressive in pursuing its unrelated antitrust case. Compared, giving Grok a bit of visibility increase within the App Retailer may not appear so unhealthy… besides that it tells Musk what’s going to get Apple to crack.
Maybe this may function a lesson to Apple and the remainder of us: when you present you’re prepared to pay a bribe, the asks don’t stop. It might have been smarter for Apple to proceed to refuse to promote on X. Too late now — Musk desires extra, and he thinks Apple will give it. If that’s not our new period of gangster tech, I don’t know what’s.