MRC Original: The editors at Apple News and the algorithm behind Google News appeared to receive the same marching orders ahead of the 2026 midterm elections: Don't promote negative stories about scandal-plagued Democrats, but don't extend the same treatment to Republicans.
The Media Research Center has uncovered another apparent double standard at Apple News and Google News. Days after revealing that the news aggregators effectively shielded Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed from scrutiny, MRC found that the same news aggregators had no hesitation in amplifying controversies involving two Republican candidates.
The apparent disparate treatment comes as both digital news gatekeepers scramble to defend their editorial and algorithmic decisions, even as MRC's research has repeatedly found those decisions favor left-leaning viewpoints. Their negative coverage of Ken Paxton and Tony Gonzales further reinforces MRC's findings.
MRC Findings:
- Google News happily promoted four negative headlines about Paxton and four negative headlines about Gonzales during their respective primaries. Similarly, Apple News featured four negative headlines involving Gonzales.
- This marked a stark contrast to the zero stories with negative headlines that each news aggregator promoted about Platner and El-Sayed as they rose in the polls in their respective Senate races in Maine and Michigan.
Apple News and Google News’s erasure of Democratic Party candidate controversies is consistent with a broader pattern of the two news aggregators promoting left-leaning sources while shunning right-leaning ones, as assessed by independent media bias firm AllSides.
Apple News and Google News Had One Standard for Republican Controversies, Another for Democrats
By promoting negative stories about Republican-tied controversies and overlooking scandals involving Democratic candidates, Apple News and Google News appeared to apply markedly different standards during the 2026 election cycle.
Now in his 11th year as Texas attorney general, Paxton is a longtime fixture in Lone Star State politics and certainly no stranger to negative media coverage. He defeated Sen. John Cornyn in the 2026 Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
Google News ensured that its readers learned of Paxton’s alleged financial struggles, the turmoil his candidacy caused anti-Trump Republicans and concerns that he could lose the general election.
Examples of headlines on Google News:
- “Republicans are freaking out over Texas Senate race,” by Politico, promoted Feb. 26
- “Texas Voters Head To Polls Amid Concerns Over Senate Choice,” by The Washington Post, promoted May 26.
- “Republicans brace for money problems in Texas after Ken Paxton’s win,” by NBC News, promoted May 28.
- “Paxton win sparks GOP money panic,” by Politico, promoted May 28.
Separately, Apple News and Google News promoted stories about Gonzales, a now-former Republican lawmaker who served in Congress from 2021 to 2026. He halted his re-election campaign in March 2026 after admitting to having an extramarital affair with a congressional aide. He later resigned from Congress, effective on April 14.
Apple News and Google News each featured at least four stories about Gonzales’s decision to cancel his reelection, including two stories that even targeted Brandon Herrera, the Republican candidate who was challenging Gonzales.
Examples of headlines on Google News:
- “Tony Gonzales drops reelection bid after pressure from GOP leadership,” by Axios, promoted March 6.
- “A Sex Scandal and ‘Mein Kampf’ Give Democrats Hope in West Texas Race,” by The New York Times, promoted March 6.
- “Accused Sexual Harasser GOP Candidate Steps Down, An Apparent Neo-Nazi Takes His Place,” by Rolling Stone, promoted March 7.
Examples of headlines on Apple News:
- “Rep. Gonzales drops reelection bid after admitting to affair with aide,” by The Washington Post, promoted March 6.
- “Calls increase for expulsion of Swalwell and Gonzales over sexual abuse allegations,” by Politico, promoted April 13.
Democratic Scandals Were All But Erased from the Same News Apps
Apple News and Google News’s negative coverage of Paxton and Gonzales stood in stark contrast to their treatment of Democratic candidates facing scandals. MRC found that the news aggregators failed to promote comparable negative coverage involving Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed.
Platner, a left-wing candidate who sought to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the 2026 general election, rose in the Democratic Party primary despite mounting scandals surrounding his candidacy. Those scandals included a Nazi-linked tattoo, a history of inflammatory posts on Reddit, allegations of toxic behavior toward former girlfriends and claims involving extramarital affairs.
Apple News and Google News’s lack of coverage continued until The New York Times published a report detailing the experiences of several of Platner’s former girlfriends, who described him as toxic and erratic. The report also referenced an allegation of sexual abuse later brought forward by Lindsey Fifield.
As noted by MRC:
“Apple News and Google News ran zero stories from November through May with headlines about Platner’s mounting controversies, including his Nazi tattoo and deleted Reddit posts, in which he called himself a ‘communist,’ denounced America and attacked police. The news blackout began during the Democratic Party primary as the first poll indicated that only Platner would defeat Collins in a hypothetical match-up. The blackout ended only after a May 30 report when sexting allegations came to light.
“From November through May, Apple News and Google News willfully hid at least 112 significant stories from some of the most widely read right-leaning outlets covering Platner’s scandals, indicating a troubling pattern of intentional censorship.”
Similarly, the news aggregators ran cover for Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan. Apple News and Google News effectively shielded him from scrutiny by failing to promote stories about controversies surrounding his campaign.
MRC found that the news aggregators featured zero negatively framed headlines about El-Sayed as the race narrowed into a two-person contest and as he gained momentum in the polls.
Among the controversies surrounding El-Sayed were deleted social media posts in which he voiced support for defunding the police, questions over his self-identification as a “physician,” ties to figures accused of anti-Semitism, support for abolishing ICE and his endorsement of “Medicare for All.”
MRC previously reported:
“The blackout of negative coverage occurred as El-Sayed began to take a lead over Democratic Party primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens, potentially helping preserve his polling advantage by shielding voters from arguably unfavorable information.
“From Nov. 1, 2025, through July 21, 2026, Apple News and Google News effectively shielded El-Sayed from his mounting controversies by keeping at least 104 stories from right-leaning outlets off of their top 20 morning feeds.
“Even left-leaning news outlets published stories addressing controversies surrounding El-Sayed, with MRC identifying at least 13 articles that Apple News and Google News could have promoted but did not.”
Apple News and Google News may argue that they cannot cover every race taking place ahead of the 2026 midterms. But that defense falls short, as MRC found that both news aggregators even promoted several stories about Republican primary races for the Indiana state Senate, despite those contests having little to no national significance. In fact, Apple News and Google News had eight stories each about those races.
Apple News and Google News Relied Heavily on Left-Leaning Sources Across Their Top 20 Feeds
Beyond the apparent disparity in scandal coverage, Apple News and Google News also relied heavily on left-leaning outlets throughout their top 20 daily feeds.
During the study period — Nov. 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026, for Google News and Nov. 3, 2025, through July 31, 2026, for Apple News — the two news aggregators collectively featured thousands of stories from left-leaning sources while offering comparatively few from right-leaning outlets. Google News promoted:
- 3,245 stories (69%) from left-leaning outlets
- 1,335 stories (28%) from center outlets
- 135 stories (3%) from right-leaning outlets
Apple News promoted:
- 3,679 stories (72%) from left-leaning outlets
- 1,380 stories (27%) from center outlets
- 52 stories (1%) from right-leaning outlets
Methodology: The Media Research Center tracked the top 20 stories on Google News each morning from Nov. 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026, and Apple News from Nov. 3, 2025 through July 31, 2026, at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET. MRC researchers then searched the following keywords to identify relevant stories: “Texas,” “Paxton,” “Cornyn,” “Indiana,” and “Gonzales.”
MRC then used sentiment analysis to rate the relevant headlines across both news aggregators as negative, neutral or positive. The analysis included, but was not limited to, identifying possible hedging language, the use of loaded words to describe candidates, the arguments being promoted or highlighted and the presence of negative language.
MRC researchers used the AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize an outlet as “left,” “lean left,” “center,” “lean right” or “right” to determine the bias presented by the featured outlets and analyzed the results.
