Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has raised concerns with Apple about accusations that Apple News promotes news articles from left-wing news outlets and suppresses content from conservative publications, the FTC's chairman said on Wednesday.
In a letter sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson noted the commission does not have authority to require Apple or any company to take positions on any political issue or to curate news based on ideology.
But he said that if Apple's practices were "inconsistent with Apple's terms of service or the reasonable expectations of consumers", they "may violate the FTC Act".
Section 5 of the FTC Act prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices. A representation is deceptive under the FTC Act if it is material and would likely mislead consumers.
Ferguson, a Republican who was appointed to the Commission by former President Joe Biden and named its chair by Donald Trump last January, has sought to use the FTC's antitrust and consumer-protection authority to tackle conservative issues, such as perceived online censorship.
In the letter, he said that "multiple studies have found that in recent months Apple News has chosen not to feature a single article from an American conservative-leaning news source, while simultaneously promoting hundreds of articles from liberal publications."
Apple News aggregates stories from newspapers, magazines, and digital publications, and curates the stories in a digital news feed.
"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 said in the letter, which he posted on X.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Ferguson's letter.
Ferguson said last year that the agency should look into whether tech platforms misled users or stifled conservative speech online, and whether advertisers had banded together to pull money from platforms such as Elon Musk's X over content concerns.
(Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
