(LifeSiteNews) — Sen. Marsha Blackburn is demanding answers from Apple CEO Tim Cook after a report showed that Apple News posted zero articles by conservative outlets while posting more than 400 by left-leaning outlets.
“I write to express my concern with recent reporting that Apple News has systematically suppressed news articles from conservative publications while amplifying articles from liberal outlets,” wrote the U.S. senator from Tennessee.
“The American public increasingly relies on services like Apple News to provide them with information, and they deserve to have access to perspectives across the political spectrum,” noted Blackburn. “To deny consumers that ability through algorithmic promotion or editorial bias is a disservice to those who use your product.”
Blackburn cited a jaw-dropping study by the conservative watchdog group Media Research Center (MRC) which had analyzed over 600 stories featured by Apple News between January 1 and January 31 of this year.
“440 of these were published by left-leaning outlets,” said Blackburn. A whopping zero stories from outlets considered right-leaning were featured.”
“Apple News is automatically installed on Apple devices and was purportedly ranked the most popular news application in the United States, Canada, and Australia in January. You have a responsibility to offer access to information without favor or bias toward one political party,” Blackburn told Cook.
Blackburn posted her letter to Apple’s CEO on X, explaining that she wanted “all internal data about the distribution of articles on the platform over the last year.”
Last month, Apple News posted ZERO articles by right-leaning outlets and more than 400 by left-leaning outlets.
I sent a letter to CEO Tim Cook demanding answers and all internal data about the distribution of articles on the platform over the last year. pic.twitter.com/xdC8gI2O0D
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 20, 2026
“Throughout my entire career, I have pushed back against Big Tech’s systematic censorship of conservatives and President Trump has rightly promised to return free speech to America,” wrote Blackburn, who requested answers to a series of questions by March 4, 2026:
- “Has Apple News ever excluded or deprioritized content from right-leaning outlets based on anti-conservative bias?
- “How does Apple determine which articles are featured or promoted in Apple News feeds? Please explain the role of human editorial judgement versus algorithmic ranking in that process.
- “Please provide any internal data on the distribution of stories from outlets across the political spectrum featured on the platform in the last year.
- “Has Apple conducted or commissioned any internal review or audit of Apple News algorithms with respect to political bias since these reports first emerged? If so, what were the findings?
- “If a third-party news outlet believes it has been unfairly excluded or deprioritized on Apple News, what mechanisms exist for appeal or review by the publisher?”
Blackburn isn’t the only one demanding answers from Apple.
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission warned Apple of its news app’s apparent bias against conservative media outlets.
“These reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers,” Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chairman Andrew Ferguson wrote in a letter to CEO Tim Cook obtained by the New York Post.
Ferguson urged Cook to “conduct a comprehensive review of Apple’s 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.”
“As an American citizen, I abhor and condemn any attempt to censor content for ideological reasons,” wrote Ferguson. “Such efforts, whether taken to appease overzealous activists, at the behest of foreign governments, or simply to advance the political views of Silicon Valley elites, stifle the free exchange of ideas, manipulate the public discourse and are inconsistent with American values.”