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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent a letter to Apple over allegations that the tech giant’s news curation app has a political bias.
In a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned that Apple News could be in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
‘The First Amendment protects the speech of Big Tech firms. But the First Amendment has never extended its protection to material misrepresentations made to consumers, nor does it immunize speakers from conduct that Congress has deemed unfair under the FTC Act, even if that conduct involves speech,” Ferguson told Cook.
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The FTC sent a letter to Apple over alleged bias allegations with its Apple News curation application. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Ferguson continued, “Accordingly, Big Tech companies that suppress or promote news articles in their news aggregators or feeds based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication may violate the FTC Act if that suppression or promotion (1) is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of service; (2) is contrary to consumers’ reasonable expectations such that failure to disclose the ideological favoritism is a material omission; or (3) when those practices cause substantial injury that is neither reasonably avoidable nor outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or competition.”
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The FTC chair suggested that alleged bias in Apple News’ algorithm may violate the platform’s own terms of service with its consumers.
“The FTC is not the speech police; we do not have authority to require Apple or any other firm to take affirmative positions on any political issue, nor to curate news offerings consistent with one ideology or another. But Congress has mandated that we protect consumers from material misrepresentations and omissions, including when the product or service offered to consumers is a speech-related product,” Ferguson wrote.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson suggested Apple could be in violation of the FTC Act. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Ferguson closed his letter by urging Cook to “conduct a comprehensive review” of Apples terms of service to make sure its curation practices aren’t in violation and to “take corrective action swiftly” if they are.
Neither Cook nor representatives for Apple responded to Digital’s request for comment.
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Ferguson addressed his letter regarding Apple News’ alleged bias to Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty Images)
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A recent study from conservative watchdog group the Media Research Center examined the content featured on Apple News, the news aggregator pre-installed on Apple’s devices.
Of 620 stories shared between Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, 440 came from outlets that are rated as left-leaning while 180 came from centrist outlets. Zero came from right-leaning outlets, according to the study.
