Apple News Faces Bias Allegations
A recent investigation has unveiled that Apple News’ editorial team appears to be deliberately excluding conservative media from the app’s top stories.
The analysis, conducted by AllSides—a nonpartisan organization that assesses news outlets based on their political leanings—examined 166 articles published on Apple News over a two-week span in October.
The focus was specifically on sections of the app that users can’t personalize, namely “Top Stories” and “Trending Stories.”
Surprisingly, AllSides noted that none of the 82 pieces in the curated “Top News” section were produced by outlets classified as “right-wing.”
Overall, the study found that a mere 2% of the articles came from conservative sources, while left-leaning outlets contributed a staggering 50%, and centrist sources accounted for 23%.
Julie Mastrine, the director of AllSides’ media bias rating system and a study author, commented, “Apple News’ model fuels America’s political polarization by trapping readers in a bubble of one-sided information that can manipulate or blind them.”
She goes on to express concern that such one-sided consumption not only increases anxiety about current events but also impairs mutual understanding among Americans.
This scrutiny follows a recent Post report detailing findings from a conservative watchdog group’s investigation. This investigation indicated that Apple News promotes stories from left-wing organizations while suppressing those from right-leaning ones.
Former President Trump even shared the findings on his Truth Social account shortly after they were released.
In light of these revelations, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, cautioning that the company might be infringing on consumer protection laws. Ferguson urged Cook to conduct a “comprehensive review” and implement immediate corrective measures.
Mastrine added that by primarily featuring left-leaning outlets, Apple limits Americans’ ability to access a variety of opinions and formulate their own views.
AllSides bases its ratings on a bipartisan panel of experts trained to identify media bias and gathers input through a blind survey of Americans across the political spectrum.
Of the 65 media organizations analyzed, only two were categorized as right-wing: Fox News appeared three times, while The Telegraph made the list once.
The research revealed that the most frequently mentioned outlets included The Wall Street Journal (rated as centrist), Buzzfeed (not rated), The Washington Post (rated as leftist), and Huffington Post (rated as leftist).
AllSides collected articles from Apple News daily at 10 a.m. Eastern Time from October 6 to October 19 to maintain consistency. The Trending Stories section is generated based on user reading habits.
These findings align with a similar AllSides analysis from 2023, which determined that 53% of articles in the “Top News” section were from left-leaning sources, and just 1% were from right-leaning ones.
In their 2023 review of popular news aggregators, AllSides classified Apple News as “left-leaning,” with only Yahoo News and Bing News also exhibiting liberal biases.
Apple has not issued any comment regarding these allegations.
Since 2017, Lauren Kahn, a former editor-in-chief for New York Magazine and New York Times Magazine, has led Apple’s editorial team.
When initially confronted with the bias claims from the Media Research Center, Apple responded by stating that users could customize their experience by choosing which publications and topics to follow or block.
Interestingly, Apple News went 99 consecutive days without showcasing any conservative stories until last Friday, when it featured a piece from Fox News about the death of actor James Van Der Beek—just two days after the FTC’s warning letter.
