Trump FTC sends letter to Apple over alleged political bias in its news app
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent a letter to Apple regarding allegations that the tech giant’s news curation practice has political bias.
In a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned that Apple News may be violating Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
“The First Amendment protects the speech of Big Tech companies. But the First Amendment has never extended its protection to material misrepresentations to consumers and has not exempted speakers from unfair conduct under Congress’s FTC Act, even if that conduct includes speech,” Ferguson told Cook.
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The FTC sent a letter to Apple containing allegations of bias regarding its Apple News curation practice. (Future Publishing via CFOTO/Getty Images)
“Accordingly, Big Tech companies that suppress or promote news articles on their news aggregators or feeds based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication may violate the FTC Act if such suppression or promotion (1) is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of service; (2) is contrary to the reasonable expectations of consumers such that failure to disclose ideological favoritism would amount to a material negligence; or (3) these practices cause significant injury that is neither reasonably avoidable nor reasonably avoidable without the relief provided to consumers or competition.” “It is outweighed by the beneficial benefits.”
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The FTC chairman suggested that the alleged bias in Apple News’ algorithm could violate the platform’s own terms of service with consumers.
“The FTC is not the speech police; we have no authority to require Apple or any other firm to take favorable positions on any political issue or to regulate news offerings consistent with one ideology or another. But Congress has required us to protect consumers from material misrepresentations and omissions, including where the product or service offered to consumers is speech-related,” Ferguson said. he wrote.
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson suggested that Apple may be violating the FTC Act. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Ferguson closed his letter by calling on Cook to “conduct a thorough review” of Apple’s terms of service to ensure its curation practices are not being violated and to “expeditiously take corrective action” if they are.
Neither Cook nor Apple representatives responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Ferguson addressed his letter regarding Apple News’ alleged bias to Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Variety via Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images)
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A recent study by the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, examined content on Apple News, the news aggregator loaded onto Apple devices.
Of the 620 stories shared between January 1 and January 31, 440 came from channels considered left-leaning and 180 came from channels considered centrist. According to the research, the zero is due to right-leaning outlets.
