Trump FTC wants Apple News to promote more Fox News and Breitbart stories

Source: Ars Technica

FTC claims Apple News suppresses conservatives, cites study by pro‑Trump group

Credit: Getty Images | Anadolu

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson has accused Apple of violating U.S. law by suppressing conservative‑leaning news outlets on Apple News.

Ferguson pointed to research by a pro‑Trump group that alleged Apple News suppresses articles from Fox News, The New York Post, Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit. He claims Apple News might be violating promises made to consumers in its terms of service, but the letter does not cite any specific provisions from those terms.

“Recently, there have been reports that Apple News has systematically promoted news articles from left‑wing news outlets and suppressed news articles from more conservative publications,” Ferguson wrote in the letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday.
“The reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers, as well as the reasonable consumer expectations of the tens of millions of Americans who use Apple News.”

Craig Aaron, president and co‑CEO of media‑advocacy group Free Press, told Ars that Ferguson’s “letter would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. This is what government censorship looks like. Ferguson’s claims aren’t based on any facts or evidence, just innuendo from discredited partisan operatives who think The Wall Street Journal is too woke. Imagine if another administration told Drudge or Fox News what stories they should feature on their apps or home pages.”

Ferguson told Cook:

“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 public discourse, and are inconsistent with American values.”

We have contacted Apple for comment and will update this article if a response is received. Aaron added:

“Apple must respond and condemn this government intrusion. Capitulating to or appeasing government censors will never work. If these companies are as committed to free expression as they claim to be, it’s time to take a stand.”

“FTC Is Not the Speech Police”

Ferguson’s letter stated:

“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.”

“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.”

Key points from the letter

• Consumer‑protection focus – The FTC’s power lies in ensuring companies honor promises made to consumers, not in policing political content.
• Apple News terms of use – The terms mainly impose obligations on users and contain no requirement for Apple to avoid partisan bias. They state that Apple News content is presented “as‑is,” and the only recourse for a dissatisfied user is to stop using the service.
• Potential FTC‑Act violation – Ferguson warned that if Apple News were to suppress or promote articles based on perceived ideological or political viewpoint in a way that conflicts with Apple’s terms of service or reasonable consumer expectations, it could violate the FTC Act.
• Call to action – He urged Apple to conduct a comprehensive review of its terms of service and to ensure that its curation practices align with those terms and any representations made to consumers, taking corrective action promptly if they do not.

What the letter did not clarify

• Whether Ferguson or any FTC staff actually reviewed the Apple News terms.
• If Apple has made any explicit promises about the political leanings of the news sources it highlights.

Apple News Terms of Service

Ferguson linked to the Apple News terms of service, noting that they “address a wide range of topics” such as:

• Content of the site
• Consumer use of the site
• Prohibited conduct
• Privacy and data security
• Dispute resolution

No further detail was provided in the letter.

Apple Terms: “Your sole remedy… is to stop using the site”

What the Apple News terms say

In addition to prohibiting scraping, hacking, and other conduct, the terms make it clear that users shouldn’t expect any particular types of content on the site or app.

“Apple does not promise that the site or any content, service, or feature of the site will be error‑free or uninterrupted, or that any defects will be corrected, or that your use of the site will provide specific results. The site and its content are delivered on an ‘as‑is’ and ‘as‑available’ basis… Your sole remedy against Apple for dissatisfaction with the site or any content is to stop using the site or any such content. This limitation of relief is a part of the bargain between the parties.”

The terms also note that Apple News may display third‑party materials and links to third‑party websites, and that users must:

“Acknowledge and agree that Apple is not responsible for examining or evaluating the content, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, validity, copyright compliance, legality, decency, quality, or any other aspect of such Third‑Party Materials or websites. Apple, its officers, affiliates, and subsidiaries do not warrant or endorse and do not assume any liability or responsibility to you or any other person for any Third‑Party Materials or Linked Sites, or for any other materials, products, or services of third parties. Third‑Party Materials and links to other websites are provided solely as a convenience to you.”

Political controversy

Despite Apple’s disclaimer about third‑party content, both FTC Chair Lina Katrina Ferguson and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appear convinced that the FTC’s allegations against Apple are credible.

• Ferguson wrote on X:

  “Today I sent a letter to Tim Cook expressing my concerns about allegations that Apple News has, unbeknownst to its users, systematically promoted news articles from left‑wing news outlets and suppressed content from conservative publications.”
  —Ferguson’s X post

• Carr, who has repeatedly amplified former President Trump’s complaints about media and threatened to revoke broadcast‑station licenses, posted:

  “FTC Chair Ferguson is exactly right. 🎯 Apple has no right to suppress conservative viewpoints in violation of the FTC Act.”
  —Carr’s X post

Carr’s past actions include:

• Amplifying Trump’s complaints about media coverage – see Ars Technica, Dec 2025.
• Threatening to revoke broadcast‑station licenses under a rarely‑enforced news‑distortion policy – see Ars Technica, Apr 2025.

FTC Cites Bias Claim from Pro‑Trump Group

While Ferguson’s letter lacks a specific claim that Apple violated its own terms of service, he warns that bias in news aggregation may violate the FTC Act if it “is contrary to consumers’ reasonable expectations such that failure to disclose the ideological favoritism is a material omission.”

“Tech companies suppress[ing] or promot[ing] news articles in their news aggregators or feeds based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication may violate the FTC Act… when those practices cause substantial injury that is neither reasonably avoidable nor outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or competition.”

Ferguson also cites studies claiming that, in recent months, Apple News has chosen not to feature a single article from an American conservative‑leaning news source, while simultaneously promoting hundreds of articles from liberal publications. Both studies are from the Media Research Center (MRC), founded by L. Brent Bozell III, who was nominated by President Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to South Africa.

Media Research Center’s Position

• The MRC argues that “President Donald Trump and the United States appear to stand alone in the fight to preserve free expression.”
• Under Trump, the group says, “much is being done to correct course and loosen the Biden‑era censorship cartel’s stranglehold on American liberty.”
• Its mission is “to document and combat the falsehoods and censorship of the news media, entertainment media and Big Tech in order to defend and preserve America’s founding principles and Judeo‑Christian values.”

The MRC’s most recent report criticizes Apple News for highlighting articles by “leftist outlets,” which it lists as:

• The Washington Post
• Associated Press
• NBC News
• The Guardian
• The New York Times
• Apple itself
• NPR
• Politico
• USA Today
• Bloomberg News

Sources

• Media Research Center – Free Speech Blog (April 25 2025)
• Media Research Center – Apple News Report (February 4 2026)

Group Says Apple News Needs More Breitbart

The group said its study focused on the top 20 articles in the Apple News morning edition on each day of January. It reported that all 620 highlighted articles were from “left‑leaning and other outlets.” The Media Research Center counted The Wall Street Journal as a “center outlet,” lumping it into the same broad category it applied to outlets it describes as leftist.

“Rather than promoting news stories from notable right‑leaning media sources such as Fox News, the New York Post, Daily Mail, Breitbart or The Gateway Pundit, Apple News has relentlessly pushed articles from elitist media outlets that amplify the left’s narrative—like The Washington Post, The Associated Press and NBC News as well as center outlets like The Wall Street Journal and Reuters,” the group said.

The Gateway Pundit is known for publishing election‑related misinformation and has been beset by defamation lawsuits.

Ferguson’s FTC has also investigated NewsGuard, a company that rates news sources on reliability. NewsGuard sued the FTC last week in an attempt to stop the probe, which it said “was instigated in large part by Newsmax.” In its lawsuit, NewsGuard asked the court to invalidate a merger condition imposed on the Omnicom/Interpublic Group deal that effectively “prohibits Omnicom and its ad agencies and affiliates from using NewsGuard’s services.”

“The FTC has pursued its campaign because Chairman Ferguson does not like NewsGuard’s news ratings, which he views as biased against conservative publications,” the NewsGuard lawsuit said. “That is wrong—NewsGuard’s ratings and journalism about news sources are non‑partisan and based on fully disclosed journalistic criteria. But the FTC’s actions are plainly unconstitutional even if that were not the case. The First Amendment does not allow the government to pick and choose speech based on what it likes or dislikes.”

Jon Brodkin

Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.

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