Apple Accused Of Left-Wing Bias After New Investigation Shows Blackout Of Conservative Media

Technology giant Apple is facing serious accusations from the Federal Trade Commission over its seeming political preferences. Specifically those that appear to be baked into the company's Apple News service. 

The accusations stem from an investigation by the Media Research Center, a right-leaning watchdog group that investigates media bias. Their investigation found that of 620 stories promoted by Apple News during morning hours, the busiest time of day, an incredible 440 of them came from left-wing media. The other 180 were published by more centrist publications. Which leaves, naturally, quite literally zero stories that were published by right-leaning media. 

This covered an entire month's worth of Apple News recommendations, from January 1-31, 2026. Not one single conservative-leaning media outlet surfaced at the top of its associated app. Seems a bit too overwhelmingly biased to be a coincidence, no? That's where the FTC comes in.

Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)

Apple News Potential Bias Under Investigation

The New York Post reported on a letter sent by FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to Apple CEO Tim Cook, taking immediate action into what appears to be overwhelming bias.

"These reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers," Ferguson says in the letter. 

Ferguson then tells Cook that he should "conduct a comprehensive review of Apple’s terms of service and ensure that Apple News’ curation of articles is consistent with those terms and representations made to consumers and, if it is not, to take corrective action swiftly."

There are obvious First Amendment issues at play, namely Apple's ability to say what it wants. But as Ferguson explains, this type of bias could reflect "material misrepresentations" from the company towards consumers. And that such misrepresentations are not protected First Amendment speech.

"The First Amendment protects the speech of Big Tech firms," he writes in the letter. "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."

If the company is found to have been suppressing specific ideologies or viewpoints, it could be in violation of the FTC act, he explained. "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."

Apple News article recommendations are based on a blend of human editors and an internal algorithm that chooses articles to push to the top of users' feeds. Per MRC's data, there were 72 articles from the Washington Post that received featured treatment, 54 from the Associated Press, 50 by NBC News, 34 from the Guardian, and 25 from NPR. There were 54 articles highlighted from the Wall Street Journal, rated by MRC as a "centrist" outlet. Zero stories from the New York Post, Fox News, or other right-wing media companies received the same treatment.

**Note: Fox News shares a parent company with OutKick**

The numbers seem too one-sided to be an accident. And it wouldn't be remotely surprising were it to be revealed that internal Apple staff, whether on the editorial side or those building the recommendation algorithm, would put their thumb on the scale to avoid allowing right-leaning content to gain additional viewership. Whether anything comes of this remains to be seen, but it's an extremely concerning allegation that would once again demonstrate how hard the left works to eliminate alternate views.