X Corp and SpaceXAI Drop Antitrust Suit Against Apple
The dismissal of the federal lawsuit suggests a shift in strategy for Elon Musk's ventures as they continue a separate legal battle with OpenAI.
Elon Musk's X Corp and SpaceXAI have filed to dismiss their lawsuit against Apple, as Engadget first reported. The legal action, which was handled in a Texas federal court, has been resolved, though Engadget notes that the specific reasoning for the dismissal and whether a settlement was reached remain unknown.
The original complaint, filed last year, alleged that Apple violated antitrust laws by integrating ChatGPT tools into Apple Intelligence. According to Engadget, the lawsuit claimed this move was designed to lock up markets to preserve monopolies and block competition from innovators such as xAI and X. The filing further alleged that Apple and OpenAI conspired against SpaceXAI's products, specifically the Grok chatbot, and that Apple failed to promote Musk's apps on the App Store. In a statement previously given to Reuters, Musk's companies claimed Apple would have no reason to avoid featuring the X and Grok apps more prominently if not for its exclusive deal with OpenAI.
Engadget points out that other OpenAI competitors, including Perplexity and DeepSeek, have successfully reached the top of the App Store charts despite the Apple-OpenAI partnership, while SpaceXAI has not.
While the Apple portion of the litigation has ended, CNBC reports that Musk's companies intend to continue pursuing their claims against OpenAI.
Separately, SpaceXAI is facing significant legal and regulatory pressure in California. Engadget reports that the company is embroiled in a lawsuit alleging that Grok was used to generate thousands of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) images and facilitated the large-scale production of nonconsensual intimate deepfakes used to harass women and girls. Governor Gavin Newsom has called on the Attorney General to investigate xAI, describing the creation of a platform for such content as "vile."
*Opinion: From a deals perspective, the abrupt dismissal of the Apple suit suggests that Musk's antitrust claims were likely a strategic leverage play rather than a viable legal path. By exiting the dispute with Apple while maintaining the fight against OpenAI, X Corp appears to be pivoting its navigation of the App Store ecosystem to focus on its primary competitor.*