FTC Chairman sends letter to Tim Cook regarding claims that Apple News favors left-wing media and oppresses right-wing media

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson has sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding allegations that Apple's news aggregation app, Apple News, favors left-wing media while suppressing right-wing media.

US FTC raises concerns over accusations Apple News favors articles from left-wing outlets | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-ftc-raises-concerns-over-accusations-apple-news-favors-articles-left-wing-2026-02-12/

Trump FTC sends letter to Apple over alleged political bias in its news app | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-ftc-sends-letter-apple-over-alleged-political-bias-its-news-app

FTC chair questions Tim Cook over alleged Apple News bias - 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2026/02/11/ftc-chair-questions-tim-cook-over-claims-apple-news-sidelines-conservative-publications/

FTC Chairman Warns Apple Over News Choices On Its Aggregation Site
https://deadline.com/2026/02/ftc-apple-news-tim-cook-letter-1236716669/

In February 2026, the Media Research Center (MRC), a conservative media watchdog group, reported the results of a study that found that of the 20 morning top stories displayed by Apple News between January 1st and 31st, not a single article was from a right-wing media outlet.

Apple News Continues Rejection of Right-Leaning Outlets in January
https://mrcfreespeechamerica.org/blogs/free-speech/heather-moon/2026/02/04/apple-news-continues-rejection-right-leaning-outlets

According to the MRC survey, of the 620 top stories published during the period, 440 were from media outlets that MRC deemed 'left-leaning,' 180 were from media outlets that MRC deemed 'centrist,' and none were from media outlets that MRC deemed 'right-leaning.'

MRC considers left-leaning media outlets such as The Washington Post , Associated Press , NBC News , The Guardian , The New York Times , and Bloomberg to be centrist, while right-leaning outlets include Fox News , New York Post , Daily Mail , Breitbart , and The Gateway Pundit .

In response, Ferguson, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, sent a letter to Cook.

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. pic.twitter.com/xXCxNgRbpc

— Andrew Ferguson (@AFergusonFTC) February 11, 2026

'The FTC is not the speech police. We do not have the authority to require Apple or any other company to take a stance on any political issue or to select news that aligns with a particular ideology,' Ferguson said in the letter.

'Furthermore, if Apple's practices violate its terms of service or reasonable consumer expectations, they may violate Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices. Chairman Ferguson called on CEO Cook to conduct a comprehensive review of Apple's terms of service for violations of its news curation practices and to take prompt corrective action if any violations are found,' the FTC said.

At the time of writing, neither Apple nor CEO Cook responded to requests for comment from the media.