Tim Cook Faces FTC Warning Over Apple News Curation

[MacRumors]

Apple has been issued a warning letter from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, urging it to review its content curation for Apple News so as to ensure that it is not suppressing conservative publications.

In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, seen by the Financial Times, FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson cites recent press coverage of a report from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC), which claimed that Apple has promoted "leftist outlets" in its content choices.

The report in question by the MRC said that in January, Apple News "refrained from using any right-leaning outlets in the top 20 articles of its morning editions between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2026." The outlets named in the report include Fox News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit.

The report went on to claim that Apple News was more favourable to outlets such as The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal – publications that are traditionallly considered either center outlets or nonpartisan.

Ferguson, whom President Trump appointed to lead the U.S. competition and consumer protection watchdog, said Apple should conduct a "comprehensive review" of its terms of service and take corrective action if its content curation does not comply with them.

Ferguson added that the choice of stories on Apple News may violate the FTC Act, arguing that the stifling or promotion of content "based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication" may be "inconsistent" with Apple's terms of service or the "reasonable expectations of consumers."

"The FTC is not the speech police; we do not have the 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. But Congress mandated that we protect consumers from material misrepresentations or omissions, including when the product or service offered to consumers is a speech-related product."

The letter came the day after President Donald Trump shared coverage of the MRC report on Truth Social. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared coverage of the MRC report on X on Wednesday.

Apple has not commented. The letter amounts to a sharp rebuke of Cook and marks an escalation in public tensions between Apple and members of the Trump administration.

Trump has generally refrained from criticizing Apple since Cook tried to repair relations with the administration in August, when he pledged to spend $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. Trump, in turn, promised Apple an exemption from planned electronics tariffs. Cook also presented Trump with a glass plaque mounted on a 24-carat gold base, a gesture that prompted an online backlash for its perceived obsequiousness.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Tim Cook Faces FTC Warning Over Apple News Curation

 

[nickf]

Speaking as Briton, the Daily Mail is a tabloid rag. (And Breitbart? Don't make me laugh!).

 

[lapstags]

This admin is pathetic I can’t wait until they are gone and forgotten

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

My opinion: Apple should leave the content business, period. Allow app makers to fill that gap, there are well enough of them.

Focus on building devices and software platforms for developers to build apps for. Focus on improved Pro apps and developer relations and customer experiences.

Make more things cross-platform such as tap-to-share, sending cash and iMessage.

Get rid of half the products you make and make doubly-good the remaining half. Adding an additional display size in many cases. And fix display sizing in general, the laptop display sizes are illogical and confusing, as is iMac.

Simplify product naming across the board. No numbers or childish sub-naming (mini, plus, iPhone 19 Pro Max Extreme Bananas). Just call it iPhone and give it three sizes and make a big fat one called iPhone Ultra in three sizes. No other phones. Apple Display, Apple Display Pro. Simplify.

Address common product complaints. Both hardware and software, including long-time bugs and basic missing and expected features.

Fix the AAA gaming problem.

Create a drag-and-drop design app that also features voice input for shape and gradient generation and manipulation. It’s insane that in 2026 an Apple app developer needs a third party app to make an app icon and branding logo.

After exiting the content businesses, it leaves so much work to do if the focus comes back to being great at the few things you do. It leaves more than enough work.

Tick-tock from a software focused year to hardware focused year releases, focusing on hardware practicality, quality and functionality, and software reliability, fluidity and usability, software battery efficiency, and user delight.

Stop trying to be everything and make everything. Refocus on devices. Double iCloud storage tiers.

 

[MOFS]

Apple has been issued a warning letter from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, urging it to review its content curation for Apple News so as to ensure that it is not suppressing conservative publications.

In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, seen by the Financial Times, FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson cites recent press coverage of a report from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC), which claimed that Apple has promoted "leftist outlets" in its content choices.

The report in question by the MRC said that in January, Apple News "refrained from using any right-leaning outlets in the top 20 articles of its morning editions between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2026." The outlets named in the report include Fox News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit.

The report went on to claim that Apple News was more favourable to including outlets such as The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal – publications that are traditionallly considered either center outlets or nonpartisan.

Ferguson, whom President Trump appointed to lead the U.S. competition and consumer protection watchdog, said Apple should conduct a "comprehensive review" of its terms of service and take corrective action if its content curation does not comply with them.

Ferguson added that the choice of stories on Apple News may violate the FTC Act, arguing that the stifling or promotion of content "based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication" may be “inconsistent" with Apple's terms of service or the "reasonable expectations of consumers."
The letter came the day after President Donald Trump shared coverage of the MRC report on Truth Social. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared coverage of the MRC report on X on Wednesday.

Apple has not commented. The letter amounts to a sharp rebuke of Cook and marks an escalation in public tensions between Apple and members of the Trump administration.

Trump has generally refrained from criticizing Apple since Cook tried to repair relations with the administration in August, when he pledged to spend $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. Trump, in turn, promised Apple an exemption from planned electronics tariffs. Cook also presented Trump with a glass plaque mounted on a 24-carat gold base, a gesture that prompted an online backlash for its perceived obsequiousness.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Tim Cook Faces FTC Warning Over Apple News Curation

I’m not sure what the issue is (beyond more Trumpian politics). Apple may not have licensed right leaning news outlets to provide content. Apple are not forced to pay for these licenses so can’t provide the content. If people want to access a separate news aggregator that follows their own world view they can.

PS: yes I’m sure this is a PRSI post but it’s a federal regulator talking about forcing Apple to promote content that historically has supported the Republican Party so not sure what you’d expects 🙂

 

[risenphoenixkai]

"The FTC is not the speech police; we do not have the 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.“

Cool. Go pound sand then.

 

[Delivered]

My opinion: Apple should leave the content business, period. Focus on building devices and software platforms for developers to build apps for. Focus on improved Pro apps and developer relations and customer experience. Make more things cross-platform such as tap-to-share, payments and iMessage. Get rid of half the products you make and make doubly-good the remaining half and add an additional size in many cases for them. Simplify product naming across the board. Address common brand complaints. Fix the AAA gaming problem. Create a drag-and-drop design app and feature voice input for shape and gradient generation and manipulation.

So yeah, get out of the content business. Allow app makers to fill that gap, there are well enough of them.

AppleTV is pretty solid. I may not like all the shows but you can’t argue with the production quality. I do wish I could tell it to stop advertising specific shows to me on the front page of the device AppleTV. Like I don’t want horror shows scaring my family. I also don’t want xenophobic war propaganda like Tehran being shoved in my face all the time. so in that regard you are probably right getting into content means you’re going damage your brand unnecessarily when you’re a hardware company.

 

[Morod]

So I'm guessing the FTC is also telling Fox News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit to start including left-wing articles as well? Yeah, sure…

 

[Edgecrusherr]

I’m surprised they’re not getting sanctioned for not posting stories about how “awesome” Trump.

 

[Kylo83]

News has always been left leaning and wrong

 

[HMFIC03]

Soon enough people will realize you can delete default apps like Apple fake News.

 

[Madhatter32]

Ironic that it was Reagan himself who abolished, through veto, the FCC's Fairness Doctrine. Even great presidents can get things wrong.

 

[duffman9000]

Apple should post more stories about Trump crapping himself. It’s the new Who Done It?. Except everyone knows Trump crapped himself again.

 

[Delivered]

sooo is the FTC the only people that use Apple News?

I feel like I have not been using it even though it’s part of my Apple one bundle. I just go to individual sites. And I feel like a lot of the country just uses social media to share specific articles. Like Reddit and Twitter. So this feels like the FTC is complaining about the paperboys only throwing one paper in front of everyone’s houses instead of multiple.

 

[Attirex]

coughEpsteincough

 

[skit911]

My opinion: Apple should leave the content business, period. Allow app makers to fill that gap, there are well enough of them.

Focus on building devices and software platforms for developers to build apps for. Focus on improved Pro apps and developer relations and customer experiences.

Make more things cross-platform such as tap-to-share, payments and iMessage.

Get rid of half the products you make and make doubly-good the remaining half. Adding an additional display size in many cases.

Simplify product naming across the board. No numbers or childish sub-naming (mini, plus, iPhone 19 Pro extreme bananas).

Address common product complaints. Both hardware and software, including long-time bugs and basic missing and expected features.

Fix the AAA gaming problem.

Create a drag-and-drop design app that also features voice input for shape and gradient generation and manipulation. It’s insane that in 2026 an Apple app developer needs a third party app to make an app icon and branding logo.

After exiting the content businesses, it leaves so much work to do if the focus comes back to being great at the few things you do. It leaves more than enough work.

Tick-tock from software focused year to a hardware focused year, focusing on hardware practical and functionality and software reliability and delight.

Stop trying to be everything and make everything. Refocus on devices. Double iCloud storage tiers.

The story here is that a fascist administration is trying to push their propaganda, not a tech company is losing its focus.

I really hope you’re not American, because if you are and that’s all you see in this, you’re part of the problem.

 

[I7guy]

Wow. Apple news is news curation, not news reporting. This smacks of over zealousness.

 

[Artemiz]

What’s with the constant whining?
Do they ever get bored playing the same old victim card over and over again?

 

[HouseLannister]

Apple has a News app?

 

[michaelsaxon]

Good. It is so brazen I quit using the app years ago.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

The story here is that a fascist administration is trying to push their propaganda, not a tech company is losing its focus.

I really hope you’re not American, because if you are and that’s all you see in this, you’re part of the problem.

Politics left and right is full of dicks, liars and actors. Fortunately I’ve unplugged from the left-right dialectic and ignore them all. For Apple, they are a tech company that forgot who they are.

 

[jlc1978]

What’s with the constant whining?
Do they ever get bored playing the same old victim card over and over again?

I'm pretty confident that when the political winds shift those riding high and cheering their wins will pull out their victim's card and the whining will simply continue from a new location.

 

[ifxf]

Apple needs to declare its News app is just entertainment. Run with the Fox News defense.

 

[cjsuk]

So conservative policy is permanent victimhood resulting in bullying? How pathetic.

 

[The_Gream]

Hum. Seems like a waste of Tax payer money. Maybe Apple News is more left leaning, but that might be because the right leaning decided to not support Apple News. I tend to find more down the middle reporting from a few outlets I enjoy, but I also try to get information from multiple sources.

Now, did I vote for Trump? Yes I did. Do I like everything he has done? Bleep No.
Yet! I don’t blame Trump, I blame the House and Senate for behaving like elementary schoolers in the playground so bent on fighting each other because of their ‘parties’ and pointing fingers that they have FAILED to create any meaningful laws that would solve the issues and curb Trump’s … ego.