Overview
- Blackburn, who oversees the Senate subcommittee covering the FTC, asked Tim Cook to explain Apple News selection practices and potential political skew by March 4.
- FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson warned Cook on Feb. 11 that Apple News’ practices could violate Section 5 of the FTC Act if they mislead consumers or are unfair.
- The Media Research Center’s January review of 620 featured stories found 440 from left-leaning outlets, 180 from centrist outlets, and none from right-leaning outlets.
- An AllSides analysis of two weeks last October found no right-leaning outlets in Apple News’ curated top stories and just 2% of items from conservative sources overall.
- MRC says Apple News went 99 days without a conservative story until a Fox News piece appeared shortly after the FTC letter, and Apple has not issued a substantive public response.