FTC chair presses Apple over alleged suppression of conservative news in Apple News
The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission wrote to Apple's chief Tim Cook, warning that the company could be violating consumer protection law if it suppressed news articles from conservative publications.
The FTC chairman, Andrew N. Ferguson, pointed out multiple reports in a letter, which claimed that Apple News has systematically promoted news articles from left-leaning news outlets and stifled more conservative viewpoints.
Additionally, Ferguson mentioned studies showing that 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.”
This refers to an investigation by the conservative media watchdog, Media Research Center, which found that none of the 620 top stories it analyzed in Apple News during morning time slots in January came from a conservative news source.
“These 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,” Ferguson said.
According to him, any attempts to censor content for ideological reasons ultimately 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,” Ferguson wrote.
He, however, added that Congress has mandated that the FTC protect consumers from material misrepresentations and omissions, including in cases involving speech-related products.
"I encourage you to conduct a comprehensive review of Apple's terms of service and ensure that Apple News' curation of articles is consistent with those terms," Ferguson said.
Apple News, a widely used news aggregator app, features content from over 3,000 publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Times, National Geographic, and The Athletic.
