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Apple has been warned by the Federal Trade Commission not to stifle conservative content on its Apple News platform, as tensions rise between the smartphone maker and the Trump administration.
In a letter to chief executive Tim Cook, FTC chair Andrew Ferguson cited recent press coverage of a report from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center which claimed that Apple has promoted “leftist outlets” in its news feed.
Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, a fellow Trump appointee and vocal critic of Big Tech, applauded Ferguson’s move on Wednesday, saying that “Apple has no right to suppress conservative viewpoints in violation of the FTC Act”.
The public rebukes for Apple from top US enforcers came the day after President Donald Trump shared coverage of the MRC report on Truth Social.
“Any act or practice by Apple News to suppress or promote news articles based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication . . . may violate” US laws that prevent businesses from misleading consumers, Ferguson said.
Ferguson, who Trump appointed to lead the US competition and consumer protection watchdog, said that Apple should carry out a “comprehensive review” of its terms of service and take corrective action if its content curation is not in line with them.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter marks an escalation in public tensions between Apple and members of the Trump administration in recent days.
Trump has attacked Big Tech companies over claims they have suppressed conservative voices and has targeted Apple over its heavy reliance on manufacturing in China and India.
But the president has generally refrained from criticism of Apple since Cook moved to mend fences with the administration in August.
Cook pledged to spend $600bn in the US over the next four years, while Trump promised Apple an exemption from planned electronics tariffs.
Tech bosses have been at pains not to provoke the president since he returned to office. But Cook last week posted a selfie with Bad Bunny, the star of the Super Bowl halftime show, which was sponsored by Apple Music and had drawn criticism from Trump.
Can’t wait for the Super Bowl and the #AppleMusicHalftime Show! pic.twitter.com/hW6A45SBC7
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 7, 2026
Trump called the performance on Sunday by Bad Bunny, who has been critical of the president’s immigration crackdown, an “affront to the greatness of America”.
It came shortly after the Apple boss held an all-hands meeting with staff in which he promised to urge the administration to change its approach to immigration enforcement, according to people familiar with the matter, in the wake of the shootings of two people by federal agents during the crackdown in Minneapolis.
Cook faced an online backlash for attending a viewing of Melania Trump’s Amazon Prime documentary at the White House hours after Border Patrol agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared coverage of the MRC report on X on Wednesday.
The report claimed that none of the 620 top stories featured on Apple’s news app in the first month of 2026 was from a “right-leaning media outlet” such as Fox News, The Daily Mail or Breitbart.
“These reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers, as well as the reasonable consumer expectations of the tens of millions of Americans who use Apple News,” Ferguson wrote.
He added that “the FTC is not the speech police” but that free speech protections do not extend to “material misrepresentations made to consumers”.
Ferguson was appointed as chair of the FTC in January last year, replacing Joe Biden-appointee Lina Khan. The following month, the FTC announced that it was launching an inquiry into Big Tech censorship.
In March, Trump fired the two Democratic commissioners at the agency, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Slaughter’s legal challenge of that decision is pending at the Supreme Court.
Republican commissioner Melissa Holyoak resigned in November, bringing the agency down to just two commissioners out of the usual five.
