Trump FTC sends letter to Apple over alleged political bias in its news app

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent a letter to Apple regarding allegations that the tech giant’s news curation app has political bias.

In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned that Apple News may violate 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 never extended its protection to false statements made to consumers, nor does it immunize speakers from conduct that Congress has found unjust under the FTC Act, even if that conduct involves speech,” Ferguson told Cook.

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The FTC has sent a letter to Apple regarding allegations of bias regarding its Apple News curation app. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Ferguson continued: “As a result, large technology companies that remove or promote news articles in their aggregators or news feeds based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or post may violate the FTC Act if such removal or promotion (1) is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of service; offset by offsetting benefits to consumers or competition.

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The FTC chairman suggested that alleged biases in Apple News’ algorithm could violate the platform’s own terms of service with its consumers.

“The FTC is not the speech police; we do not have the authority to require Apple or any other company to take positive positions on a political issue, nor to make informational offerings consistent with one ideology or another. But Congress has required that we protect consumers from misrepresentations and omissions, including when the product or service offered to consumers is a speech product,” Ferguson wrote.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson has suggested that Apple may be violating the FTC Act. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Ferguson concluded his letter by urging Cook to “conduct a full review” of Apple’s terms of service to ensure its retention practices are not in violation and to “take prompt 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 toward Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty Images)

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A recent study by the conservative watchdog group Media Research Center examined content presented on Apple News, the news aggregator that comes pre-installed on Apple devices.

Of the 620 articles shared between January 1 and 31, 440 came from media outlets considered left-wing, while 180 came from centrist outlets. Zero came from right-wing media, according to the study.