Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson has formally challenged Apple over allegations that its flagship news platform is quietly tilting the scales in favor of left-wing media while sidelining conservative outlets.
According to The Post Millennial, Ferguson on Wednesday dispatched a pointed letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook after reports that Apple News has been systematically promoted news articles from left-wing news outlets and suppressed content from conservative publications.
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 posted on X, releasing the letter publicly to underscore the seriousness of the inquiry.
Ferguson pressed Cook to conduct a comprehensive review of Apples 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. He reminded Apple that Section 5 of the FTC Act bans deceptive acts or practices, including material misrepresentations and material omissions.
The First Amendment protects the speech of Big Tech firms, Ferguson wrote, drawing a sharp line between free expression and corporate deception. 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.
The controversy intensified after the conservative watchdog Media Research Center examined 620 stories featured in Apple News top 20 articles between January 1 and January 21. Researchers reported that among those hundreds of pieces, not a single one originated from a right-leaning outlet, reinforcing long-standing conservative concerns about Silicon Valley bias.
Fergusons scrutiny of Apple follows his broader push, launched after the Trump administration took office last year, to investigate tech censorship and its impact on open debate. That effort, he said, aims to better understand how these firms may have violated the law by silencing and intimidating Americans for speaking their minds, a question that now looms large over Apples powerful news platform.
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