X hits number one on the Apple App Store amid second celebrity image scandal
X hit the number one slot among free apps on Apple’s App Store Wednesday, just as another celebrity image scandal was going viral on its platform.
But the scandals hardly seemed to hurt X in terms of downloads. X owner Elon Musk bragged about the app’s ascension to the top of the App Store list Wednesday, writing, “If I had a dollar for every time the media reported that one of my companies was going to die, I would never need to raise money!”
X is “completely committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users,” spokesperson Joe Benarroch said in a statement, adding that the company has a “zero-tolerance policy” for the sharing of nonconsensual nude images.
The company has already taken actions on thousands of posts, according to Benarroch, and X is “actively monitoring the situation” to remove new violating posts.
Still, shortly after receiving that statement, The Verge was able to find seven at least day-old posts — some with millions of views — featuring the purported Drake video by searching “Drake” in the video tab and barely scrolling. A publicist for Drake declined to comment.
Musk notably slashed teams responsible for content moderation and safety features on the site shortly after he took over the company in 2022.
Alex Heath contributed reporting.