Apple News in April avoided its self-proclaimed role as a news aggregator and instead took on the role of an anti-Trump administration propaganda outlet, heavily promoting articles from leftist media over right-leaning media on the two most prominent issues of the month by a margin of 99 to 3.
In April, much of Apple News’s coverage revolved around the two major issues of the month, the Iran conflict and the Trump administration’s immigration efforts, both of which the digital news gatekeeper framed by severely limiting coverage of the topics from right-leaning outlets. 
Out of 575 daily headlines from AllSides-rated outlets that MRC examined, 112 had some relationship to the Iran conflict. Another 52 stories concerned immigration issues. Combined (164 total stories), these policy topics accounted for more than one quarter of the daily stories highlighted by Apple News throughout the month.
MRC Findings of Apple News’s Top 20 Morning Editions in April:
- Apple News suppressed coverage of the Iran conflict from right-leaning outlets. The news aggregator promoted 112 AllSides-rated stories on the Iran war and its proxies in neighboring countries. It overwhelmingly pushed articles from elitist media, especially from left-leaning outlets (61), while suppressing articles from right-leaning outlets (2).
- The two articles that Apple News did push from right-leaning outlets included headlines that framed Trump’s Iran war effort in a negative light.
- Apple News’s coverage of immigration mirrored its Iran conflict coverage. The news aggregator promoted 52 immigration-related stories from AllSides-rated outlets. Of those, 38 stories were from left-leaning outlets, and only one story came from a right-leaning outlet.
- The lone right-leaning story was about a judge blocking “Trump’s push to deport Abrego Garcia.”
- Apple News continued to suppress stories from right-leaning outlets, featuring only 11 such stories (2%) out of 575 total AllSides-rated outlets in April. Meanwhile, the news aggregator wildly promoted elitist media, with 405 stories (70%) from left-leaning outlets and 159 from “center”-rated outlets (28%).
“Apple News’s April coverage is not even close to balanced,” said MRC President David Bozell. “It is evidence of systematic suppression of the right. Such blatant bias makes it a megaphone for anti-Trump propaganda, sidelining conservative perspectives across critical issues like the Iran conflict and immigration."
Apple News Suppressed Coverage of Iran Conflict from Right-Leaning Outlets, Promoted Elitist Media
Throughout the month of April, Apple News maintained a heavy rotation of stories about the Iran conflict and its effects, even after a ceasefire was announced early in the month. The news aggregator relied on a disproportionate number of stories from leftist outlets, all but silencing any coverage from the right about the conflict.
Notably, out of 112 stories about the Iran conflict in April, only ten directly addressed the ceasefire, even though it was announced eight days into the month. Over half of the stories Apple News promoted (61) came from leftist outlets such as The Guardian, The Associated Press and Politico. Meanwhile, Apple News only chose two stories from a right-leaning outlet to cover the Iran conflict.
Apple News promoted headlines from elitist media outlets that used sensational framing to stoke fear and confusion while avoiding conservative perspectives from right-leaning outlets. Among such headlines regarding the Iran conflict and its effects were:
- “Democrats grow bolder on talk about removing Trump from office after his Iran threats,” by The Associated Press, promoted April 10.
- “‘Outrageous': Sky-high gas prices are changing the way Americans live,’” by USA Today, promoted April 1.
- “Trump hailed the ceasefire deal — but cracks are already showing,” by Apple News, promoted Apr. 9.
- Hopes dim for swift end to Iran war after Trump speech, oil prices surge anew,” by Reuters, promoted April 2.
- “Iran shows off its control over strait after collapse of peace talks,” by Reuters, promoted on Apr. 23.
- “Trump’s Messaging Blitz Divides Advisers as Iran Talks Waver,” by Bloomberg, promoted on Apr. 24.
- “Trump lashes out at allies, says securing the Strait of Hormuz is 'not for us',” by The Associated Press, promoted on Apr. 1.
- “US-Europe rift widens as Trump lashes out at NATO allies over Mideast war,” by The Associated Press, promoted on Apr. 2.
- “U.S.-Iran War’s Next Casualty: Global Food,” by The Wall Street Journal, promoted Apr. 29.
The only two stories about the Iran conflict from right-leaning Fox News also framed the coverage negatively against the Trump administration. On April 1, Apple News promoted a Fox News story headlined, “More key US allies block military flights as Iran war rift widens with Trump.” On April 6, it promoted a second Fox News story headlined, “Pope Leo XIV invokes Pope Francis' final words in Easter plea against growing 'indifference' to war.”
“Apple’s cherrypicking couldn’t make its anti-conservative bias more obvious,” said MRC VP of Free Speech America Dan Schneider. “From the very beginning, Fox News has been covering the Iran conflict in a very thoughtful and balanced way, but leave it to Apple News to find two Fox stories that fit its anti-Trump narrative, and then ignore the other articles from Fox and dozens of other quality media outlets that have covered the story thoroughly.”
Apple News Suppressed Stories from Right-Leaning Outlets on Immigration Coverage
Apple News treated the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts much the same way it treated the Iran conflict—by pushing elitist media that reflected the left’s narrative.
Despite President Donald Trump fine-tuning his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts with the addition of Markwayne Mullin as the new head of the Department of Homeland Security, Apple News wasted no time in hammering away at the administration.
Apple News promoted a total of 52 stories on DHS and its immigration enforcement actions throughout the month of April. Of these stories, 38 were from biased, leftist outlets. Consequently, Apple News shied away from running stories about the arrests of repeat murderers who are in the country illegally, or DHS’s apprehension of illegal aliens involved in human trafficking or drug smuggling. Apple News similarly shied away from stories about the abuse of the welfare system by illegal aliens or the rampant fraud they are committing in communities across America.
Since it relied almost exclusively on elitist media outlets with an agenda, the headlines that Apple News promoted regarding DHS, ICE and immigration issues sounded like the talking points published by the Democratic Party: 
- “DHS starts deportation of woman whose loved one died in the Baltimore bridge collapse,” by NPR, promoted April 26.
- “What’s at risk if SCOTUS sides with Trump in birthright citizenship case,” by Axios, promoted April 1.
- “Marines scramble to reassure families after report of ICE at boot camp,” by The Washington Post, promoted April 2.
- “Minnesota authorities investigate arrest by ICE of a Hmong American man as a possible kidnapping,” by The Associated Press, promoted April 14.
- “In red states, anti-immigrant bills are failing as businesses push back,” by The Washington Post, promoted April 20.
- “US DHS to vet immigrants for what it calls extremist views, raising free speech concerns,” by Reuters, promoted April 28.
- “Mullin faces criticism on both sides less than a month into tenure,” by Politico, promoted April 19.
Apple News chose to promote only a single story from a right-leaning outlet, and that story’s headline was framed around a judicial defeat of a Trump administration directive. “Judge blocks Trump’s push to deport Abrego Garcia, rebukes DOJ for trying to ‘dictate’ court,” read the headline.
Apple News Continued Suppressing Right-Leaning Stories, Overwhelmingly Promoting Left
Apple News promoted 575 stories from AllSides-rated news outlets in the month of April. Of these, a mere 11 were from right-leaning outlets (Fox News and Fox Business). Apple News effectively blacklisted every right-leaning media outlet in the country except for the two Fox sites, despite the fact that other prominent right-leaning outlets are also among the most visited news sites in America, according to the latest Press Gazette rankings. These include Daily Mail, Newsmax and the New York Post.
But Apple News also promoted many smaller outlets, so long as they aligned with Apple’s agenda. The online gatekeeper published stories from over 50 outlets that did not make the Press Gazette’s list, including leftist outlets like Rolling Stone, the 19th News, Vox, Propublica, Variety, Inside Climate News and Wired. Not one right-leaning counterpart was included; no stories from Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, Breitbart, The Daily Wire, The Federalist or Real Clear Politics, to name a few.
Below are the top 10 AllSides-rated national and international outlets Apple News pushed from Apr. 1 - Apr 30, 2026:
- The Associated Press (59) - Left-leaning
- The Washington Post (59) - Left-leaning
- NBC News online (57) - Left-leaning
- The Wall Street Journal (52) - Center
- Reuters (51) Center
- Apple / Apple News (30) Left-leaning
- BBC (21) - Center
- The Guardian (21) - Left-leaning
- NPR (18) - Left-leaning
- The New York Times (The Athletic) (17) - Left-leaning
Apple News’s imbalance favoring the left matters. According to the Pew Research Center, 86% of Americans turn to their digital devices for news “at least sometimes.” With Apple News coming preinstalled on every iPhone, a considerable number of users are exposed to its leftist bias by default. The tech giant boasts 125 million visits per month.
Methodology: During the time period Apr. 1 - 30, 2026, MRC researchers examined the top 20 stories featured on Apple News each day at approximately 8:30 AM ET. MRC researchers used the AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize an outlet as “left,” “lean left,” “center,” “lean right” or “right” to determine the overall bias presented by Apple News and analyzed the results. MRC searched the specific keywords in the data sets, in addition to manual reviews in search of Iran-related and immigration-related stories. The keywords for the Iran War: ceasefire, defense, gas, Hormuz, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, NATO, oil, war; for immigration: asylum, border, deport, deportation, DHS, Homeland Security, ICE, immigrant(s), immigration.
