FTC tells Tim Cook to look into reported Apple News censorship

FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has urged Tim Cook to investigate potential political bias in Apple News’ practices following allegations of censoring conservative news sources.

“There have been recent reports that Apple News is favoring news articles from left-leaning outlets while suppressing articles from conservative publications,” Ferguson stated in a letter shared on X on Wednesday.

Apple declined to comment on the letter.

The issue of possible conservative censorship has been a recurring topic during the Trump administration, with the White House introducing a media bias section on its website in December.

The webpage includes an ‘offender hall of shame’ that highlights a story weekly that the administration deems misleading.

A portal was launched the same week, encouraging ordinary Americans to support truth and hold the Fake News accountable by reporting biased articles.

Apple is within its rights to promote any content on its news platform, as acknowledged by Ferguson.

“We do not have the authority to mandate Apple or any other company to take a stance on any political issue, or to curate news offerings based on one ideology over another,” he explained.

Ferguson’s letter referenced a study from the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog organization, which examined featured stories on Apple News during morning hours in January.

According to the study, outlets identified as right-leaning by AllSides media bias ratings were absent from a sample of 620 stories.

President Donald Trump shared a New York Post article about the study on his Truth Social account early Wednesday.

Apple has managed Trump’s second term quite effectively so far, navigating through early tariff challenges and China manufacturing restrictions, including the president’s push to have iPhones manufactured in the U.S.

In August, Cook presented a gold-and-glass trophy to Trump in the Oval Office as the company pledged an additional $100 billion to support U.S. manufacturing.

According to Section 5 of the FTC Act, the news aggregator may be in violation if its promotion or suppression “goes against consumers’ reasonable expectations to the extent that failure to disclose the ideological bias is a significant omission.”

Ferguson instructed Cook to conduct a “comprehensive review” and take corrective measures if the curation of Apple News does not align with the company’s terms of service.