For eight days after the Federal Trade Commission challenged Apple News on its bias, neither Apple nor the rest of the Big Four News Apps linked to a single story on the federal scrutiny despite its massive implications and widespread media attention.
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Feb. 11, right on the heels of a bombshell MRC study showing that Apple News did not have even one right-leaning article in its morning editions in January (620-0). Both Ferguson’s letter and MRC’s study sparked widespread media coverage, including stories from the New York Post and even left-leaning media such as The Washington Post, The Associated Press, CBS News, Business Insider and The New York Times.
In the letter, Ferguson called out Apple News for having “systematically promoted news articles from left-wing news outlets and suppressed news articles from more conservative publications.” For an entire week after Ferguson released the letter — from Feb. 11 to Feb. 18 — not only Apple News but also Google News, MSN and Yahoo News completely ignored the story.
“This is no accident,” MRC Free Speech VP Dan Schneider said of the Big Four News Apps’ blackout. “There were dozens of stories from both left and right-leaning outlets that these tech giants could have published. This was one of the biggest national stories of the week but anybody getting their news from the apps would have never known of it.”
ICYMI: FTC Chair Ferguson Puts Apple News on Notice after MRC Exposés & Apple News Continues Rejection of Right-Leaning Outlets in January
Notably, Ferguson had specifically called on Apple News to take action in his letter. While stating the “FTC is not the speech police,” and that he cannot require specific news curation, he reminded the Big Tech company “of your obligations under the FTC Act.”
He added, “Any act or practice by Apple News to suppress or promote news articles based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication, if inconsistent with Apple‘s terms of service or the reasonable expectations of consumers, may violate the FTC Act.” Ferguson advised Apple to apply the FTC Act requirements to Apple News.
While Ferguson cited a November MRC study showing Apple News promoted only one right-leaning article in November, MRC has done numerous studies since then to illustrate blatant bias. Apple News is particularly guilty, but so also are the others in the Big Four News Apps. For instance, on Feb. 13, MRC revealed that it took Apple News 100 days to put a right-leaning outlet’s article in its morning articles.
In January, MRC found Yahoo News did not include a single right-leaning article in its top 20 for 16 days of the month. Likewise, Google News included only three percent of right-leaning outlets’ content in its top 20 morning editions throughout January.
Methodology: During the time period Feb. 11 - Feb. 18, 2026, MRC researchers examined the top 20 AllSides-rated news stories featured on Apple News, Google News, MSN and Yahoo News each day at approximately 8:30 AM ET.
