Apple’s popular news app has been aggressively promoting articles from left-leaning media outlets, even as it has nearly shut down posts from more conservative publications, according to an explosive study.

The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog focused on monitoring media bias, analyzed a total of 620 stories submitted by Apple News in high-traffic morning time slots between January 1 and January 31. Apple’s News Feed is a mix of stories curated by a team of internal editors and some by algorithm.

Of the 620 stories, a whopping 440 came from outlets classified as left-leaning, while the remaining 180 were published by centrist outlets. Meanwhile, outlets considered right-leaning, including The Post, were shut down entirely.

In January, Apple News featured a total of 72 Washington Post articles, 54 articles from the Associated Press50 for NBC News, 34 for The Guardian and 25 for NPR, according to MRC data. He published 54 Wall Street Journal articles. The Post and Fox News numbers were zero and zero, respectively.

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The Media Research Center found that 440 of the 620 Apple News stories studied came from left-leaning outlets. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The MRC researchers relied on media bias scores compiled by AllSides, a non-partisan organization that uses a cross-party panel of experts, with two members from the left, two from the center and two from the right, who are trained to detect media bias.

It also blindly polls ordinary Americans and then averages the two sets of results to come up with a score.

The experts at AllSides were not involved in the MRC study or had any prior knowledge of its findings. However, Julie Matrine, who serves as director of AllSides’ media bias rating system, said she was “not at all surprised” by the results.

“The bottom line is that Americans who rely on these big tech companies to bring them news don’t have a balanced view and don’t have the full range of perspectives available,” Matrine said in an interview.

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In a statement provided after this story was published, an Apple spokesperson said the News app “provides access to news covering a wide range of topics from more than 3,000 publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Bloomberg, USA Today, Washington Examiner, New York Post, CBS News, local outlets and more.”

“Apple News users can tailor the app to their interests by choosing to follow or block specific posts or topics,” the spokesperson added.

As of Monday, Apple News had gone 96 consecutive days without featuring a story from a conservative publication in its top stories.

MRC alleged that Apple News “extensively focused on President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and immigration policy in a negative manner” during the review period. (Al Drago/Getty Images/Getty Images)

MRC, which began publishing data on news aggregators in November, said Apple News last published an article from a right-wing source on Nov. 5, when it ran a story from Britain’s The Telegraph about the Civil War in Sudan.

MRC noted that Apple’s news channel “extensively focused on President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and immigration policy in a negative light” during that time period, including selecting “provocative headlines that raised questions about Trump’s actions” in relation to immigration and foreign policy.

“Nearly half of voting-age Americans own an Apple iPhone,” MRC’s Dan Schneider told The Post. “Of course, all their phones come pre-installed with Apple News. Swipe right and you’re inundated with Apple’s hand-picked news. Most people don’t even know they’re being fed a constant stream of left-wing narratives.”

In 2023, AllSides conducted its own bias study on the 10 most popular news aggregator services. Apple News received a “left-leaning” rating, and only Yahoo News and Bing News were considered more inclined toward liberal views when curating stories.

“The right-leaning media is really underrepresented,” Mastrine said.

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From Jan. 1 to Jan. 12, MRC tracked the top 20 stories from media outlets rated by AllSides that appeared in Apple News at approximately 10 a.m. ET. From January 12-31, MRC did the same, but checked the Apple News app at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Schneider said MRC “experimented with different times” to see if it altered the results, but aimed to review Apple News in the morning for consistency.

The 620 articles included in MRC’s January breakdown include 30 stories from The Athletic, the sports site owned by the New York Times. The Times itself dropped its involvement with Apple News in 2020. The number also includes 27 pieces of Apple’s original content, most of which were links to its daily “Apple News Today” podcast.

“It’s a subliminal form of propaganda, paid for with corporate dollars but without campaign finance disclosures,” Schneider added. “It could be illegal.”

MRC’s Dan Schneider told the New York Post that Apple News’ behavior “is a subliminal form of propaganda.” (iStock/iStock)

The allegations are a potential headache for Apple and its CEO Tim Cook, who has cozyed up to President Trump since he returned to office last year. Key federal regulators appointed by Trump are actively seeking to crack down on media bias in Big Tech and beyond.

In February 2024, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson launched an investigation into tech censorship, saying his agency wanted to “better understand how these companies may have violated the law by silencing and intimidating Americans from speaking their minds.”

The FTC also cleared a major merger between ad giants Omnicom and Interpublic on the condition that they refrain from anything resembling politically motivated ad boycotts in the future.

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Elsewhere, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a fierce Trump ally, infamously blasted Jimmy Kimmel last September for inflammatory comments he made about the killing of an influential conservative. Charlie Kirk.

This week, Carr’s FCC opened an investigation into ABC’s “The View” and whether it broke rules requiring equal time for interviews with political candidates.