Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson put Apple on notice Wednesday following the release of several Media Research Center studies exposing the tech giant’s prolonged blackout of right-leaning sources on Apple News.
In a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Ferguson warned that Apple could face potential violations of federal consumer-protection law if it claims neutrality in its terms of service while suppressing content based on political or ideological viewpoint. The letter followed President Donald Trump’s resharing of a New York Post report on an MRC Free Speech America study exposing Apple News’s suppression of right-leaning sources.
Ferguson stressed that the issue was not censorship but whether Apple misled consumers by secretly blocking right-leaning outlets from its top offerings while purporting to present itself as neutral—a discrepancy he warned could violate the FTC Act’s ban on material misrepresentation.
“The First Amendment protects the speech of Big Tech firms. But the First Amendment has never extended its protection to material misrepresentations made to consumers, nor does it immunize speakers from conduct that Congress has deemed unfair under the FTC Act, even if that conduct involves speech,” Ferguson wrote in a three-page letter posted on X.
Reacting to the letter via X, MRC President David Bozell said that Ferguson is “asking the right question.”
He added, “Apple curates what millions of Americans see as ‘news’ every single day. When one company with that kind of reach consistently sidelines certain viewpoints, that’s not a minor editorial choice. That shapes the national conversation. Apple likes to present Apple News as neutral and objective. The data tells a different story.”
Chairman Ferguson is asking the right question. Apple curates what millions of Americans see as “news” every single day. When one company with that kind of reach consistently sidelines certain viewpoints, that’s not a minor editorial choice. That shapes the national conversation.… https://t.co/3jgc3OgLY2
— David Bozell 🇺🇸 (@DavidBozell) February 11, 2026
At the center of Ferguson’s letter were MRC studies exposing Apple News’s systematic exclusion of right-leaning outlets in the past three months. Apple News failed to feature a single right-leaning source for more than 90 consecutive days in its morning editions, including through December and January. Apple News’s blackout of right-leaning outlets was a sharp contrast to its aggressive promotion of left-leaning and other outlets.
In January alone, Apple News featured more than 620 stories from leftist and outlets labeled by AllSides as “center”, religiously elevating outlets such as The Washington Post, The Associated Press, NBC News, The Guardian, The New York Times’ The Athletic, Apple News-owned tabs, NPR, Politico, USA Today and Bloomberg News.
ICYMI: Media Blackout: Apple News Continues to Suppress Right-Leaning Outlets in New Year
In his letter to Cook, Ferguson warned that the reports raise “serious questions” about whether Apple News was operating in accordance with its own terms of service and its representations to consumers, including reasonable consumer expectations of millions of Americans who rely on Apple for news.
The chairman emphasized that the FTC’s role was grounded in consumer protection, not content control:
“As an American citizen, I abhor and condemn any attempt to censor content for ideological reasons. Such efforts, whether taken to appease overzealous activists, at the behest of foreign governments, or simply to advance the political views of Silicon Valley elites, stifle the free exchange of ideas, manipulate the public discourse, and are inconsistent with American values.
The FTC is not the speech police; we do not have authority to require Apple or any other firm to take affirmative positions on any political issue, nor to curate news offerings consistent with one ideology or another. But Congress has mandated that we protect consumers from material misrepresentations and omissions, including when the product or service offered to consumers is a speech-related product.”
Ferguson encouraged Cook to conduct a “comprehensive” review of Apple’s terms of service and to “ensure that Apple News’ curation of articles is consistent with those terms and, if it is not, to take corrective action swiftly.”
