Apple News Makes Modest Increase in Conservative Publications Featured on Top Stories List After Pressure From Trump Administration

Apple appears to be making some changes to the stories it features in its reliably liberal Apple News service after receiving pressure from the Trump Administration over a liberal bias in its editorial decisionsThe conservative watchdog group, the Media Research Center, found that since February 11, Apple has recently promoted a handful of articles from right-leaning outlets in its daily morning top 20 news stories. Apple News, a service available on iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks, is a hugely influential news aggregator – with 145 million active users a month – that showcases articles from partner news organizations. While the number of articles from right-leaning sources made up just 2 percent of the daily top stories, it came after a 100-day streak where Apple News did not promote a single article from a conservative outlet in its top stories list. Unlike other major aggregators in America such as SmartNews and News Break, which rely on algorithms to customize their selection for individual users, Apple News is largely human-curated by editors with backgrounds at establishment liberal publishers like the New York Times. In February, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, sent a letter to Apple to share his concerns that the tech giant has, “unbeknownst to its users, systematically promoted news articles from left-wing news outlets and suppressed content from conservative publications.”He encouraged Apple to “conduct a comprehensive review” of its terms of service to “ensure that Apple News’ curation of articles is consistent with those terms and representations made to consumers,” and if it is not, he urged the company to “take corrective action swiftly.”The head of the MRC, David Bozell, said in a statement, “Two percent is not progress. It’s damage control.”“If public exposure and a federal inquiry only yield a modest adjustment, that suggests the bias we documented was deeply embedded. Apple News should not require public pressure to reflect viewpoint diversity,” Mr. Bozell said. “This is not about token inclusion. It’s about whether one of the most powerful information gatekeepers in the country operates fairly.”The MRC also noted that while Apple broke its 100-day streak of not promoting conservative outlets, seven out of the eight that were featured among the daily top stories were published by Fox News. The eighth story was published by the Telegraph, a right of center British publication. Apple did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Apple News Makes Modest Increase in Conservative Publications Featured on Top Stories List After Pressure From Trump Administration

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